With urban populations set to explode during the coming years, urban areas are leveraging technology to best serve their inhabitants and transform themselves into smart cities. Progress has been made with the residential development of the Mooikloof Mega City in Gauteng, which was first announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2020 with a total project value of R84 billion. And, recently, Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi announced a multidisciplinary team had developed the master plan for the Greater Lanseria smart city project, with the City of Johannesburg processing the necessary approvals for urban planning required for the planned development.
Read more: How Does Technology Impact South Africa’s Cities & Rural Communities?
Government intends to connect 1.5 million households in rural and township areas by the end of the year to the internet, enabled by Wi-Fi hotspots.
Addressing a media briefing in Pretoria, the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Mondli Gungubele, said government plans to connect 5.5 million households in rural and township areas to Wi-Fi hotspots in the next three to four years.
Read more: ZA: Government accelerates programme to connect citizens to internet
Clarens, a picturesque arts town nestled in the Free State, has been classified as South Africa's inaugural "smart town”, which will support its existing smart-city initiatives such as the installation of smart meters, electric vehicle charging stations, and a variety of small-scale embedded generators (SSEGs).
The key to Clarens achieving this milestone: a stable supply of electricity, one that is being made possible through a pilot load-management project in partnership with Eskom, and backed by a mobile application released by Augos.
Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said the Greater Lanseria master plan has been developed by a multidisciplinary team as the first phase of the smart city President Cyril Ramaphosa envisioned five years ago.
Kubayi said significant investment was still required for bulk infrastructure in the area.
She also said the City of Joburg has invested about R29 million of the Urban Settlements Development Grant towards the Lanseria wastewater treatment works and the Lanseria sewer outfall.
Read more: ZA: Master plan developed for the Lanseria smart city – Kubayi
The arts town of Clarens in the Eastern Free State has become the first town in the country where residents are now equipped to manage their own load shedding through a process known as load curtailment.
As Clarens was already gearing up for smart city initiatives with smart metering and electrical vehicle charging stations already installed, as well as a well-diverse spread of small-scale embedded generators (SSEGs), Eskom says it was eager to help its residents in the evolution from an art town to a smart town.