Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa Real Estate Investor Magazine - April 2017 | Page 38

URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Africa’s Rapid Urbanisation
Top of the Agenda at the RICS Africa Summit
BY SUREN NAIDOO
A
frica’s cities need to brace themselves for
millions more people over the next few
decades, with the continent having one of
the fastest urbanisation rates in the world. This was
one of the main messages at the Royal Institution
of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) Africa Summit in
February in Johannesburg.
Delegates heard that Africa’s rapid urbanisation
presented both challenges and opportunities.
Better urban planning and massive investment in
infrastructure is needed to cater for the influx of
people looking for job opportunities, higher salaries
and urban lifestyles in Africa’s burgeoning cities.
Bennet Kpentey, head of Ghanaian-based Sync
Consult Management Consultants, highlighted the
rapid pace of urbanisation in Africa.
He said: “Cities in Africa with more than a million
people increased from 52 in 2011 to 65 in 2016. This
rate of urbanisation is on par with Europe and higher
than India and North America. With 40% of the
population living in cities, Africa is more urbanised
than India (30%) and almost at par with China
(45%). By 2030 Africa will have 760 million urban
residents, increasing to 1.2 billion by 2050, according
to the African Economic Outlook 2016 report.” He
added that Africa’s rapid urbanisation presented
infrastructure challenges for its major cities, but was
also a sign of a prospering continent.
Jacob Mamabolo, Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure,
said that, as the economic powerhouse of Africa,
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APRIL 2017 SA Real Estate Investor
Gauteng was attracting about 300,000 people
annually from the rest of South Africa and other
African countries. He cautioned that the rollout of
infrastructure in the province was no easy task, given
that Gauteng was the most populace province and
continued to attract more people.
“We have prioritised infrastructure investment in
Gauteng…In the last three years – between 2013 and
2016 ‒ Gauteng’s infrastructure investment amounted
to R30 billion. This translates into an average annual
growth rate in infrastructure spending of 20.7% – the
fastest growth rate for any province in the country,”
said Mamabolo.
RICS President Amanda Clack, who is also
Partner at EY and Head of Infrastructure (Advisory)
for the UK and Ireland, said that by investing in
core infrastructure, governments were ensuring the
economic future of a country and its cities.
“Infrastructure investment is vital to supporting
rapid urbanisation and creating the world’s future
cities. The world is facing an infrastructure funding
gap of US$57 trillion until 2020…With rapid
urbanisation, cities are taking on greater importance
and need to deliver infrastructure to accommodate
growing populations and attract talent and
investment,” said Clack.
RESOURCES
RICS
www.reimag.co.za