Gauteng targets ICT for growth

Gauteng will focus on a number of ICT initiatives to attract foreign trade and investment.

Speaking at the presentation of the Political Report to the Gauteng Legislature, Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane said there are various flagship projects geared at promoting development and growth in Gauteng.

“In order to make broadband widely available and accessible, we have embarked on the G-Link project. To date, a transaction advisor has completed the core components of the initial phase of the project, including the logistical, regulatory, technical and financial considerations of a project of this nature. This will enable the accelerated implementation of this project.”

The premier adds that, together with the Department of Communications, the province has developed a project on the concept of a Smart City. This is part of the endeavour to drive Gauteng economic development through ICTs.

“The Smart City will be a multi-sector development that will leverage on the high-capacity network that was commissioned for supporting the International Broadcast Centre used for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.”

The facility will house a number of ICT initiatives. These include a business process outsourcing centre that will see multinational co-operations migrating their operations into the centre.

“This will also lead to the establishment of a data centre service that will ensure that i-cloud computing becomes a reality; a multimedia centre; a film centre and a telecommunication exchange centre,” said Mokonyane.

She added that the province identified spending patterns characterised by poor financial control environments and high accruals in some departments as a matter of great concern.

“The tendency to place accent on strategy and policy development at the expense of pragmatic implementation is also an impediment. And the prevalence of a context of severe budgetary constraints and hard choices that had to be made is a serious matter of concern to us.”

The premier also said the notion of short-termism in planning will be a thing of the past. “We are in a business of building a brighter, bigger and smarter Gauteng for generations to come. In line with this fact, we have established the Gauteng Planning Commission and the Gauteng Advisory Council to drive the issues of future development and growth.”