In his welcome to the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town this week, Executive Mayor Dan Plato told delegates that the City’s commitment to share wealth and development is built on a solid foundation of infrastructure-led growth.

“The City recognises that competitiveness, innovation and entrepreneurship are key to the City’s economic development plans. Although we face a number of economic development challenges, it is the way in which these challenges are addressed that is critical” he said.
He cited the particular success of the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading Programme in Khayelitsha, where infrastructure development has alleviated violence. This R120 million five year programme , which aims to create safe living environments, is a partnership between the City of Cape Town, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation and Development and the German Development Bank.
To further illustrate the value of infrastructural investment, the Mayor also cited the City’s Kuyasa Low Income Urban Housing Energy Upgrade project which will provide electricity to a large number of residents in Khayelitsha who do not have electricity, largely as a result of Eskom’s former policy not to provide electricity to settlements that do not have any degree of permanency.

This project aims to install solar water heaters, insulated ceilings and two compact fluorescent light bulbs in approximately 2 300 existing RDP houses in Kuyasa, Khayeltisha. This will provide residents with hot water on demand, improve the thermal efficiency of the household units and ensure energy efficient lighting. The project is currently being implemented and about half of the 2 300 houses are complete. The rest will be complete by the end of this year.

‘A world first in this project is that the CDM project credits the Green House Gas reductions against a baseline that is equivalent to the amount of energy these houses would normally be using rather than their actual level of energy use – thus linking climate change to poverty alleviation,” said the Mayor.

More than 800 participants from 50 countries are participating in the 19th World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, from 10 to 12 June 2009. Jacob Zuma is hosting the meeting, where participants are gathering to deliberate under the theme Implications of the Global Economic Crisis for Africa. The meeting provides an important platform for world leaders to address the global and regional implications of the crisis and develop a new roadmap for Africa’s future.