Gauteng MEC of finance Barbara Creecy, in her budget speech at the Gauteng Legislature has revealed exactly how much would be allocated to the five corridors of development, which include tech projects, announced by Gauteng Premier David Makhura last month in his State of the Province Address.
The Central Development Corridor aimed at the financial sector, Information Communication Technology (ICT) and pharmaceutical industries will receive a total injection of R3.1 billion. R979.9-million of that amount will be allocated to human settlement and R789.9-million for the construction of new schools and renovation of existing ones.
New blue and green economic initiatives, tourism, agro-processing and logistics under the Western Corridor get R1.4 billion, while river tourism and agro-processing under the Southern Corridor receive just a bit more at R1.5 billion.
The Eastern Development Corridor, focusing on the manufacturing, logistics and transport industries and the Northern Development Corridor that’s centered around the province’s capital city, the automotive sector and the knowledge-based economy each receive R2 billion.
All-in-all, this represents R10 billion out of the total R95.3-billion budget set aside for the 2015/16 financial year.
- The Sedibeng/West Rand Waste to Energy and City of Johannesburg Waste Technology Project
- The freight and logistics hubs targeting the Vaal, West Rand and Rosslyn areas
- The Gauteng ICT Smart City project in NASREC
- The Jewellery Manufacturing Precinct in Ekurhuleni
- The Kopanong Precinct and Gauteng Planning House
“Our collective efforts weigh more than when we act as individuals. It is with this in mind that working with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the Gauteng Planning Division in the Office of the Premier, we will ensure that we synergise government plans and budgets to achieve the greatest benefit from every rand we spend,” Creecy said.
[Source – Polity, image – CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons]
