Photo by: Bloomberg
Speaking ahead of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group Mayors Summit, which will be held in Johannesburg from February 4 to 6, executive mayor Parks Tau has reaffirmed the city’s commitment to develop and upgrade its infrastructure in a manner that supports the city’s low-carbon, energy-efficient strategy.
“The city is aware of the responsibility to ensure that capital investment supports a low-carbon, resource efficient strategy, coupled with the ability to adapt to climate change impacts.
“Climate-proofing of infrastructure will bring new technologies and opportunities to grow the green economy with associated jobs in support of economic sustainability,” he said in a statement on Friday.
Adding that he was cognisant of Johannesburg’s “ageing infrastructure, capacity constraints and backlogs”, Tau said the city would spend over R110-billion on the provision of infrastructure over the next ten years.
Over the next three years, over R30-billion would be allocated to the replacement and upgrading of ageing infrastructure and new infrastructure, while, in the 2013/14 financial year, R7.3-billion would be spent on infrastructure – almost double that spent in 2012/13.
“The 2014/15 financial year will allocate a further R13.5-billion,” Tau held.
This would be invested into “appropriate” infrastructure services and enabling infrastructure that would act as a catalyst for private investment and economic growth.
In terms of infrastructure planning, Tau said ageing infrastructure would be upgraded, with the assistance of relevant engineering expertise, to withstand extreme weather conditions and climate-related disasters such as flooding, heatwaves, drought, scarce resource supply and service delivery disruptions.
According to the mayor, as part of its effort to become more energy resilient, Johannesburg had invested in and implemented several energy initiatives and projects, including waste-to-energy projects, solar projects and energy efficiency measures at wastewater treatment works.
In addition, solar water heating programmes had been implemented in residential developments, reducing the consumption of electricity and providing more affordable, carbon-reducing infrastructure for residents.
The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group Mayors Summit would bring together mayors and senior city officials from over 63 leading cities around the world to discuss the climate change challenges facing their cities, as well as share insights based on the actions taken to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.