July 20, 2006
By Ndaba Dlamini
AS the only world city in Africa, Johannesburg could provide Gauteng with a solid base for setting up a globally competitive city-region.
This was just one of the issues touched on during a meeting of provincial and local government representatives on Wednesday, 19 July to discuss the creation of a city-region in the province.
City-regions are "areas consisting of one or more historically and politically separate central metropolitan areas and surrounding hinterlands, in reasonable proximity and with functional interconnection".
At the centre of setting up such a region in Gauteng are the three metros of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.
"The three metros in Gauteng grapple with common issues but in different environments," says the chairperson of the South African Local Government Association (Salga) in Gauteng, Duma Nkosi.
"What makes Johannesburg unique is that it is relatively wealthy," Nkosi, who is also executive mayor of Ekurhuleni, added.
In May this year, mayors from 15 municipalities in Gauteng gave their support to the establishment of a global city-region, proposed by Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa in 2004. It will be launched on 29 August this year.
This plan is in line with the national spatial development plan, which lists economic growth as a prerequisite for the achievement of national objectives such as poverty alleviation and job creation.
Based on data that shows a population growth of 3,8 percent between 1996 and 2001, planners forecast that Gauteng will be the 14th largest urban region in the world by 2015, with a population of 14,6 million.
To set up Gauteng as a global city-region, all municipalities in the province would have to devise aligned economic development plans to the year 2030 – such as the Joburg 2030 plan.
Gauteng premier, Mbhazima Shilowa, said municipalities in the province would also have to revise their Integrated Development Plans and their Integrated Transport Plans.
Another consideration could be the scrapping of district municipalities, to be replaced by economically viable metropolitan municipalities, with borders reconfigured to promote efficiency and stimulate economic growth.
The global city plan, expected to increase the province's economic growth by eight percent by 2014, was influenced by developments in modern economies like London, New York, Paris and Tokyo.
The idea behind the plan is to build Gauteng into an integrated and globally competitive region where the economic activities of different parts of the province complement each other, according to Shilowa.
However, the region faces challenges of unemployment, poverty and underdevelopment. These challenges are compounded by the ongoing divide between first and second economies, rapid urbanisation in the region, and poor planning by some local government authorities.
Integrating plans
Common approaches and strategies have to be put in place across all tiers of government to address the economic and social challenges.
The national spatial development perspective, the province's growth and development strategies, and cities' various development strategies and integrated development plans are all key to halving poverty and unemployment in the next decade.
The prime focus of the global city-region perspective is on all municipalities working together. This will see the three metros aligning their strategies on issues of common interest, such as economic development, transport, safety and planning.
The cities, however, will still keep their autonomy and play specific roles in developing the economy of the region.
Less emphasis will be given to administrative boundaries. Metros, district and local municipalities will draw up agreements on social and economic development issues so they can "co-operate internally to compete better externally".
To complement the economic developmental efforts, Gauteng has drawn up a human resources development strategy, which will be presented to businesses, training institutions and labour organisations for comment.
This strategy is expected to be made public in September.
An integrated transport plan looking at the "entire spectrum of transport in the province" has been developed and the provincial safety and security department is also currently drawing up an integrated plan for the region.
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