Cape Town city councillors this week unanimously voted in favour of the R400 million fibre optic network to be laid throughout the metropole.
They recognised the long-term economic spin-offs, says mayoral executive committee member Simon Grindrod.
This is the last legal hurdle the city had to go through to get the mooted project started, after it was conceived more than two years ago. Previous approvals came from the mayor`s office, the mayor`s executive council and the city`s management.
"None of the city councillors wanted to vote against this project after they realised the benefits. They were literally falling over each other to vote in favour of it," says a member of the public who was present in the council chamber when the vote was cast.
The person says it was a rare sign of solidarity in the council among all parties, when usually such meetings are highly fractious due to party politicking.
Grindrod, who is the leader of the Independent Democrats in the city and who introduced the proposal, says the project will help stimulate about 15 000 jobs in its first phase (construction) and could eventually lead to the creation of about 225 000 jobs by 2026.
He says a study also shows the investment could create a cumulative contribution to the city`s gross domestic product of R5.7 billion by 2012. The 20-year lifespan of the project means it could contribute about 2.25% of the Cape Town economy.
"For me, the most important thing is that it lifts a constraint to growth. The Wesgro (Western Cape Investment Organisation) identified three main constraints, namely communications, transport and crime. With this we address at least one major constraint," he says.
The first phase of the project is scheduled to begin early next year and will consist of the laying 171km of cable that will link all the city`s main administrative buildings. Spare capacity will be made available to licensed telecoms service providers so they can use it to set up their own networks.
Belinda Walker (Democratic Alliance), executive councillor for telecoms oversight, says Cape Town is the first major SA city to adopt such a plan.
"While others have either built small networks for their own use, or are planning to offer telecoms services themselves, Cape Town will build the basic infrastructure and then invite telecoms companies to use it to offer services to the public," she says.
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