Build-up was a let-down: Little has come of the planned Lanseria Smart City, north of Johannesburg, which was to house half a million residents. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Cyril Ramaphosa had a dream when he became president. His dream was to build brand-new cities — post-apartheid cities which would change the social and economic apartheid spatial architecture.
A year later, he solidified that dream and announced the Greater Lanseria Master Plan (GLMP). This would be the blueprint behind the Lanseria Smart City, which Ramaphosa said would be home to about 500 000 people within the next decade. Ultimately, more than 3.5 million people would live there.
As with many other projects under Ramaphosa’s five-year tenure, no ground has yet been broken.
Various timelines were touted for the project, even going up to 20 years, but four years after his speech, the 458 square kilometres earmarked for this dream remain veld.
Several issues arise when trying to fulfil such a dream, including environmental considerations, sanitation, transport, infrastructure and existing spatial issues for housing.
Ramaphosa envisioned that about half a million people would inhabit this smart city within 10 years. However, four have gone past and it looks as if many more will roll on without progress.
So what happened to Ramaphosa’s dream?
In 2021, David Makhura, who was Gauteng premier, said various “stakeholders” had signed off on the Lanseria Smart City master plan, including the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), players in the the private sector, as well as the municipalities of Mogale, Tshwane, Johannesburg and Madibeng.
The draft master plan, completed in 2020, investigated aspects from the aesthetics of the buildings, sanitation constraints and transport hurdles to the landscape. One of the points raised was how to incorporate the low-income homes around a large portion of greater Lanseria.
Extensive parts of the area have already been zoned for priority housing development. These include those in and around Diepsloot, Lion Park and Cosmo City.
“It is felt that, from a planning point of view, the continued consolidation of housing in a specific band of socioeconomic profile serves to ‘typecast’ the wider area; exacerbates the present marginalisation of communities settled here without economic prospects being readily available and under-achieves,” the plan says.
The planning team believed no lower-income housing should go into this area, other than as fragmented, higher-density parcels, with further commercial development consolidating as part of Lanseria Airport’s existing operations.
“Any horizontally extensive delivery resembling lower-density, detached housing must be avoided here in preventing what, under those circumstances, would simply constitute further urban sprawl. This would be the antithesis of what the GLMP is setting out to achieve,” it said.
Another impediment to building infrastructure in the area over the past 15 years, the team said, has been the lack of capacity in the City of Johannesburg’s Northern Waste Water Treatment Works and the need for a new facility. Although the City of Johannesburg received approval in August 2020 for the Lanseria Water Resource facility, there are still challenges, including funding.
“One anticipates that the … first phase of this facility, once funding has been secured, could be in place within the next five years,” reads the report tabled three years ago.
Another aspect the government was requested to focus on was transport, including upgrading Malibongwe Drive to cater for public transport. There was also a need for a Gautrain route from Lanseria airport to the smart city.
The plan says a feasibility study should be undertaken to ascertain if an additional interchange at the Petroport on the N14 highway, to improve access to the proposed town centre, was possible. Several other routes would require integration.
To help meet development timelines, the team recommended an application be made to the department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries. This would allow for agricultural land to be released for development use.
The plan also called for the creation of a special purpose vehicle for the planning, coordination and implementation of all facilities.
Two years later, little else has happened besides the commissioning of a plastic production plant.
“The investment, worth $50 million, is a key contribution to the Lanseria Smart City masterplan that will drive sustainability and recycling, as well as create and sustain 350 jobs,” Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said.
In March, the Gauteng provincial government announced that Lanseria had been designated as the national pilot for a special purpose vehicle financing bulk against future income from developments, under DBSA’s infrastructure fund.
The provincial update focused on the roles of the project management office, the creation of a special purpose vehicle and establishing a formal compact of private sector landholders and potential developers — a rehash of what was contained in the master plan.
Three years after Ramaphosa’s “I have a dream” speech, little has surfaced from his team besides plans and establishing teams. The twinkling city lights are fading. The investment and infrastructure office in the presidency could not answer questions about the progress of the dream because the team was travelling overseas.
Urban developments that are being built
Dreams of smart cities are nothing new in South Africa. Here are some which are under construction:
African Coastal Smart City
Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane said the development of the African Coastal Smart City was gaining momentum. It is meant to be a game-changer for the region. Coega will be involved.
Nkosi City
Announced in February last year, this will be a major integrated human settlement in Daantjie, Mpumalanga. The development is a joint venture between the Nkosi City Communal Property Association and Dovetail Properties, assisted by the national government, the Mpumalanga provincial government and the City of Mbombela. The cost is said to be R8 billion and construction was meant to start last year.
Mooikloof Mega City
Led by Balwin Properties, the construction is being touted as the largest housing project in the country to date. Completion of the development has been set for 2030. Mooikloof Mega City is off Garsfontein Drive, Pretoria.
The Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone
This will be South Africa’s first automotive city. It is expected to be constructed over about 165 hectares in the City of Tshwane. It is predicted that the city will create more than 20 000 jobs.
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