Mogale City has unveiled plans to upgrade infrastructure in Lanseria to prepare for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s first smart city, including a Gautrain station and smart municipal infrastructure.
In a document titled "Muldersdrift-Lanseria Precinct Plan: Draft Precinct Plan & Implementation Programme", shared with MyBroadband, the municipality detailed preparations for the smart city.
“The primary objective of the project is to prepare the Muldersdrift-Lanseria Area Precinct Plan for Mogale City Local Municipality as a detailed spatial framework,” it said.
It said the framework would guide coordinated development in the region and support the implementation of the Lanseria Smart City initiative.
The document listed development objectives relating to environmental management, movement and accessibility, rural residential and agricultural preservation, and engineering services and infrastructure.
Under the engineering services and infrastructure objective, Mogale City said these must promote the sustainable and resilient provision of engineering services.
It said this would include smart infrastructure to support future growth, protect environmental resources, and contribute to the development of the Lanseria Smart City.
“Telecommunications, broadband, and smart infrastructure must be treated as essential urban infrastructure rather than as a secondary private-sector add-on,” the municipality said.
“The Greater Lanseria Masterplan makes it clear that the initiative is of strategic importance to the State and cannot be left to the private sector alone.”
It said the Masterplan specifically indicated that a special purpose vehicle must be considered to determine the best way to implement and finance the required infrastructure, including ICT services.
“From a broader smart city perspective, a smart city should not be understood simply as a ‘tech-heavy’ urban intervention, but as a more holistic system,” Mogale City said.
It said this holistic system should underpin planning, management, service delivery, and long-term adaptability.
“Smart cities and smart infrastructure should form part of the core development principles of the broader Lanseria growth area,” it said.
“In practical planning terms, this requires the establishment of a shared digital backbone network for the broader area, integrated with public infrastructure and major movement spines.”
Smart City Gautrain Station a key development
Mogale City said provision must be made for common ducting, fibre reticulation, 5G enablement, and future smart city technologies as part of roads, public spaces, and utilities infrastructure.
“The objective should be to avoid fragmented, development-by-development roll-out of ICT infrastructure, which would result in duplication, inefficiency, and uneven access,” it said.
It added that the strategy should therefore require major new developments to align with a coordinated precinct-wide digital infrastructure framework.
“Such a framework should support smart municipal management systems, utilities monitoring, mobility systems, security applications, responsive service delivery, and future digital economic activity,” it said.
The plans for the Muldersdrift-Lanseria Precinct include expanding the Gauteng Rapid Rail Integrated Network within the broader Lanseria area.
“The Cosmo City-Lanseria corridor forms part of the proposed Phase 5 expansion of the Gautrain network, and includes a number of planned stations in close proximity to the area,” Mogale City said.
These include the Cradle Station in the west and the Lanseria Station, which will be positioned immediately east of the precinct, in proximity to the Lanseria International Airport.
“The Smart City Station, located further east of the airport, is intended to support long-term development associated with the Greater Lanseria planning area,” Mogale City said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa first announced plans for the Lanseria Smart City while presenting his 2020 State of the Nation Address.
He described a smart city as a “truly post-apartheid city” that would be home to 350,000 to 400,000 people by 2030.
“It will not only be smart and 5G-ready but will be a leading benchmark for green infrastructure continentally and internationally,” Ramaphosa said.
Only open fields and shacks
MyBroadband has visited the site of the planned Lanseria Smart City on several occasions in recent years and observed little development.
During a visit in January 2023, we found that little progress had been made in the city’s physical development, at least in terms of actual construction.
In 2024, we compared Google Earth imagery of the region from April 2020 with imagery from March 2024, which also showed that no headway had been made.
Aside from Lanseria Airport and its infrastructure, the largest buildings were warehouses and offices in Lanseria Corporate Estate.
We visited the site again in January 2026, and the only progress made was the erection of a fence along Ashenti Road.
The fence was erected on both sides of Ashenti as you travel away from Laneria Airport towards Blair Atholl Estate. However, it was incomplete and ended just before an informal settlement in the area.
The Gauteng Growth and Development Agency told MyBroadband that it was aware of the informal settlement.
“This matter is being addressed through structured intergovernmental processes involving the relevant provincial and municipal authorities,” it said.
“All interventions will be guided by applicable legislation, policy frameworks, and due process, with a strong emphasis on human dignity and social sustainability.”
Some progress was made in the area between January and April 2026, with solar-powered streetlights being installed along Pelindaba Road as you approach Lanseria and along Ashenti Road.
However, these weren’t directly related to the smart city initiative. Lanseria International Airport said City Power had installed them as part of an ongoing project.
“The airport and the surrounding businesses have, however, partnered to ensure the protection of the infrastructure with 24-hour patrols,” the airport said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Myles Illidge
Dieser Artikel ist neu veröffentlicht von / This article is republished from: My Broadband, 04.08.2026
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