Joburg sets ambitious growth target
Johannesburg's growth target of 9 percent will be met, despite the economic woes that have dogged the globe, believes the City's portfolio head for economic development, Oupa Monareng.
Councillor Oupa Monareng is adamant that despite the world's economic downturn, Joburg will keep to its 9 percent by 2014 growth projection.
Monareng is the mayoral committee member for economic development, appointed in June in the reshuffling of portfolios. He moved from being a member of parliament to one of the City's top jobs; he has previously served as a member of the Gauteng provincial legislature.
"We will be focusing on manufacturing, industry and partnerships in the city and across the world to reach the 9 percent."
Joburg was not immune to the global crisis, he says, just as the country was equally affected. Despite it, the City has continued working on big projects, like its Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the 2010 stadiums.
He sees as his immediate challenges ensuring that his department gets funding for small medium and micro enterprises, the informal sector and co-operatives, to "grow and sustain their own businesses".
"Skilling is our immediate priority." A skills hub, with a tie-in to institutions like the University of Johannesburg, will be established. "This will introduce potential business people to skilling. Small businesses can't sustain themselves without skills."
Some 2 500 people have been trained in the past five years - some 150 have been trained to be exporters - and he recently attended one of the graduation ceremonies. "I felt proud and very emotional at how the graduates were received. They so appreciate the efforts - the City is giving priority to those who in future will be full participants."
When it comes to the cost of doing business - crime, infrastructure weaknesses and the price of electricity - Monareng says that his department will co-operate with other departments to ensure safety and security, and with the metro police, which needs to enforce the City's by-laws.
There has been a drop in hijackings, robberies and murders in the suburbs and townships, he points out.
He also wants to attract tourists - from the provinces, neighbouring countries and overseas. There are endless activities arranged to promote tourism in the city, and therefore growth: the hosting of Miss World in December and all the activities that go with it; the Soweto Festival; and major projects like Orlando Ekhaya in Soweto.
Another initiative is the broadband project with international technology company Ericsson, in which the City intends to bring down the cost of telecommunications connectivity. "The City is facilitating the introduction of optic fibre and creating opportunities for other service providers [besides Telkom, Vodacom and MTN]," he explains.
He is also keen to offer smart cards for small businesses operating around taxi ranks and bus and BRT stations.
Economic growth has been affected by the collection rates for services, he admits. "As soon as things are back to normal, we will put measures in place for collection, to make sure people pay their rates and taxes."
http://www.joburg.org.za/content/view/4698/266/
Posted at 10:07AM Jan 05, 2010 by Editor in Market |