Beyond Potholes: Crafting World-Class Infrastructure for Tomorrow's Cities

Future Cities Africa and the Municipal Edge present the 4th Annual "Local Government Conversations" Webinar Series 2025.

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Thank you to our Series Gold sponsors:

Ntiyiso Consulting Group

Business Engineering

Key Points from the Webinar:

Purpose and Context:
- The webinar series, in its fourth year, aims to share best practices and solutions for local government challenges, with a focus on infrastructure for future cities.
- The theme, "Beyond Potholes: Crafting World-Class Infrastructure for Tomorrow's Cities," emphasised resilient, sustainable urban development amid challenges like climate change, urbanisation, and aging infrastructure.
Panelist Contributions:
- Bwalya Funga (Lusaka City Council):
  - Highlighted Lusaka's challenges: a population of 3.5 million, with 70% in informal settlements, facing issues like solid waste management, flooding, and droughts.
  - Shared solutions, including community-driven projects like the Bomb Drain for flood management, solar-powered infrastructure to address load-shedding, and nature-based drainage solutions.
  - Emphasized co-creation with communities to ensure ownership and sustainability, noting that involving communities from project inception reduces vandalism and enhances asset protection.
- Daniel Notle (Center for Municipal Asset Management):
  - Discussed the nascent field of municipal asset management, historically focused on crisis maintenance rather than strategic planning.
  - Stressed the importance of proper planning, referencing South Africa's Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), which mandates cost assessments for construction, operation, and funding sources.
  - Advocated for community-based asset development, citing examples like performance-based community cooperatives for verge cutting and waste collection.
  - Proposed using virtual reality and AI for infrastructure planning, particularly for stormwater management, to simulate conditions and improve resilience.
- Lodie Venter (City of Tshwane):
  - Introduced Tshwane's Community Upliftment Precinct (CUP) policy, a voluntary initiative allowing communities to maintain local infrastructure (e.g., parks, streetlights) to address service delivery gaps.
  - Highlighted successes, such as communities cleaning parks, securing electrical substations, and repairing potholes, fostering a sense of ownership and reducing vandalism.
  - Noted challenges, including perceptions of double taxation and bureaucratic hurdles, but emphasised the policy's success in encouraging active community participation.
Key Themes and Discussions:
- Community Engagement and Ownership: All panelists underscored the importance of involving communities in planning and maintaining infrastructure to ensure sustainability and reduce vandalism. Lusaka's co-creation model and Tshwane's CUP initiative were cited as effective approaches.
- Climate Resilience: Solutions like climate-resilient roads, solar-powered infrastructure, and nature-based drainage systems were highlighted to address climate change impacts like flooding and droughts.
- Infrastructure Financing: The webinar touched on funding challenges, including public-private partnerships (PPPs) and the need for transparent, prioritised budget allocation to maintain and replace infrastructure.
- Digital Transformation: Investments in ICT infrastructure, as exemplified by Cape Town, were noted as critical for enabling smart cities and citizen engagement.
- Asset Management: Proper planning, maintenance, and replacement strategies were emphasised to address aging infrastructure, with examples like consolidating water lines to save costs.
Audience Engagement:
- Questions and comments focused on knowledge exchange within Africa, community ownership, sustainable pothole solutions, and the role of software in public participation.
- The panel encouraged ongoing collaboration and learning from regional and international counterparts to address shared challenges.
Closing Remarks:
- Bwalya Funga: Stressed the need for inclusive stakeholder engagement, particularly with communities, to build resilient cities.
- Daniel Nolte: Highlighted the importance of long-term cost planning and prioritisation in asset management, advocating for community-based approaches.
- Lodie Venter: Emphasised the CUP initiative's success in responding to community needs and urged a mindset shift toward co-creating cities with residents.
- Zolani Zonyane: Concluded by reinforcing the value of collaboration, co-creation, and stakeholder involvement in building sustainable municipal infrastructure.

Conclusion:
The webinar underscored the critical need for integrated planning, community involvement, and innovative financing to develop resilient infrastructure for Southern Africa's future cities. By learning from regional examples like Lusaka and Tshwane, municipalities can address current challenges and build sustainable, community-owned urban systems. The session highlighted the importance of moving beyond temporary fixes to create infrastructure that withstands climate, population, and economic pressures.