About 90% of the budget set aside for the development of townships through the Neighbourhood Development Programme (NDP) by the National Treasury, is being spent on technical assistance for ongoing infrastructure in South African townships, said National Treasury NDP head David van Niekerk during an Infrastructure Dialogues session at the Development Bank of Southern Africa in Midrand, late last month.

Introduced in 2006, the NDP aims to improve public infrastructure investment, fiscal and regulatory development incentives, as well as the coordinated urban management of targeted transit-orientated mixed-use precincts in townships.

This forms part of the National Treasury’s Programme 8 technical and development support initiative, which aims to improve public finance management, support high-impact government initiatives, create jobs and strengthen infrastructure planning and delivery.

Moreover, the NDP manages the neighbourhood development partnership grant that aims to eradicate spatial inequality and create liveable, sustainable, resilient, efficient and integrated towns and cities.

“The spatial transformation of towns and cities will improve access to economic opportunities and the quality of life for residents living in informal settlements,” Van Niekerk pointed out during the dialogues.

Since 2006, the National Treasury has registered and supported 315 township projects, of which 82 projects are under construction at a value of R1.7-billion. To date, 210 projects valued at R2.5-billion have been completed and more than R2.2-billion in third-party investment has been leveraged into township locations.

Further, the programme uses the integrated city development grant to incentivise metropolitan municipalities to strengthen planning and delivery capacity, as well as target infrastructure spending to transform inefficient urban landscapes into inclusive, productive and sustainable spaces.

Through this programme, government believes that focus on infrastructure is a pillar for revitalising townships. This is owing to the belief that a key factor to revitalising townships is the ability of infrastructure to facilitate mainly spatial transformation, as this would create opportunities for enterprises in townships to be viable. This, in turn, will enable small businesses to compete meaningfully on the market, which would eventually strengthen the value chains – both downstream and upstream.

Although infrastructure is the prime pillar of township development and a key driver of economic growth, Gauteng Department of Economic Development sector specialist Matodzi Rathumbu mentioned during the dialogues that the beckoning challenge with progressive infrastructure in the townships remains the lack of the “marrying of infrastructure development with economic benefits” for the local communities.

Commenting on this notion, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research built environment principal researcher Dr Mark Napier suggested that the most noticeable challenge in establishing a sustainable economy in townships lies in the fact that townships were not designed to be business-friendly.