CoJ to treble budget to electrify informal settlements

JOHANNESBURG - The City of Johannesburg will treble its budget for electrification of informal settlements from R260 million in the past three years to R750 million for the next three years.Finance MMC Funzela Ngobeni delivered his budget speech, totaling expenditure of R58 billion for the 2019/2020 financial year.He said the city would replace copper cables with aluminium, due to theft, and conclude refurbishment of 11 sub-stations.Ngobeni said the city would spend R8.3 billion on infrastructure and maintenance this financial year. He said R5.1 billion of the capital budget would be funded by the city, while R3.2 billion would be from grants and public contributions.The MMC said the metro had a shortfall of R60 billion to electrify the city, and this has resulted in 170,000 power outages every year. But said over the next three years, electrification of informal settlements would be trebled.REVENUE INCREASEThe city said its revenue from 2018 to 2019 was expected to increase by 12% to R58 billion.Ngobeni explained that the city would budget for a surplus of R1.3 billion before tax and capital grants. He said that two-thirds of the city’s revenue next year would come from property rates, electricity, water, sanitation and refuse tariffs.He said tariff increases would range between 7% and 12%, and expenditure on maintenance of infrastructure would increase to 6% compared to 3% in 2015 before the DA took over the metro.Ngobeni said the surplus of R1.3 billion would be invested in infrastructure.
Read More