Plans are in the works to have Africa’s wealthiest city, Johannesburg, transformed into the “New York of Africa”. The plan will take 10 years to complete and R101 billion to provide the 4,4 million residents with a New York-esque Johannesburg.

According to city mayor Parks Tau the plans include new roads and railroad networks, better housing and revamping of buildings for the City of Gold. And the inspiration is of course New York. Tau said:

We are re-inventing the city of Johannesburg. We are turning this city into a New York of Africa.

Our economy is growing, so we saw a need to prioritise investment on infrastructure to boost the economic capacity of the city.

Project officials say the proposed plan is set to correct the urban planning of Apartheid, where blacks were pushed to the urban fringe, where infrastructure and services were and still are lacking. This according to Tau:

This is a major step in reversing the inequalities caused by the apartheid regime.

While Johannesburg has the largest number of dollar millionaires in the country, there are still the poor who have no access to running water or formal housing. A vast contradiction to the many mansions that dot Johannesburg’s elite suburbs.

Housing is the biggest challenge facing the city. We can’t claim to be a world class African city when we still have people living in poor conditions.

A concern has been raised by Democratic Alliance spokesperson Mmusi Maimane regarding the handling of such a large budget. Mmusi Maimane said:

We don’t dispute that it is a great investment, but we need assurances that public funds would be handled efficiently. My main concern is that there is no capacity to handle such a huge budget.

[Source: TIMES Live]