As the Development Bank of South Africa, we are committed to addressing and developing under-resourced municipalities in South Africa and the neighbouring countries. We are driven by our goal to build thriving, integrated and resource-efficient African communities.
We understand that we serve a crucial role in supporting the government by leveraging skills and capabilities. We also aim to increase the implementation of infrastructure programmes in the key priority sectors: education, health, housing, as well as various municipal infrastructure programmes.
The municipal development projects
The DBSA provides planning, financing and implementation support to municipal development projects in the water and sanitation, electricity, roads and house resources sectors.
National electrification programme (NEP)
This project focuses on the implementation of electrification of houses under the Mbizana municipality, including the Monti, Ntlozo, Gumzama, Mqonjwana and Lugwijini villages. The project was successful in eradicating the backlogs of unelectrified households. As a result, we provided bulk infrastructure to ensure a constant supply of electricity, improved the health of community members and created temporary employment opportunities.
This programme expands to the development and maintenance of an efficient transport system. We have provided and continue to commit ourselves to secure funding support to the Tshwane BRT project (A Re Yeng), Ekurhuleni BRT project (Harambee) and the Gautrain rapid passenger rail project and its expansion. A total of R40.4 million of funds were allocated for this programme, which has thus far, secured 71 temporary job opportunities and security services access to 2 559 households.
Water and sanitation project
This project was implemented to address the infrastructure backlogs faced by the municipalities, under the Moretele municipality on the north of Pretoria, adjoining four provinces, North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
Within this project, there are ten sub-projects which focus on a wide range of responsibilities in the municipal water supply system, including the sanitation infrastructure, the construction of water reticulation infrastructure and construction of paved roads in the municipal area, as well as the construction of sports facilities.
Overall, the project was allocated a fund of R148.84 million and thus far, measurable outcomes include 1 884 households which have access to sanitation services, 1 279 households which have access to water supply services, 601 temporary job opportunities, 13.4km upgrading and resealing of roads and construction of stormwater drainage facilities as well as 6.5km of newly paved roads.
Polokwane pipe network replacement project
This project was designed to increase the municipality's wastewater treatment capacity to handle current and projected sewage flows until the year 2032.
DBSA funded a total of R235 million from the Project Preparation Funding, R25 million grant approved from the Infrastructure Investment Programme for South Africa and an additional R460 million funded by Standard Bank for the project. So far, the project has seen through the replacement of AC pipes in Polokwane CBD, Seshego and Annadale.
Economic Infrastructure project
The programmes under this project address infrastructure constraints and capacity in the bulk water, transportation and logistics, energy and power, telecommunications, and liquid and fuel sectors.
Gautrain expansion
This project is primarily focused on addressing the demand for the expansion of the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link network. The DBSA mandated lead arranger (MLA) developed a funding solution for the expansion of the network into new suburbs/locations in the Gauteng province.
We approved funding of R3.5 billion for this project and an additional R40 million Project Preparation Grant from IIPSA to assist the Gautrain management agency with direct transaction costs for outstanding project preparation activities and for the reimbursement of bidder costs incurred in the design of depot enhancements required as part of the bidder's response to the request for proposal.
Roggeveld wind farm
This Roggeveld wind farm project was developed to implement 147MW wind farm approximately 20km north of Matjiesfontein, in ward 4 of Laingsburg municipality and ward 1 of Karoo Hoogland municipality.
The overall funding for this project was approximately R909.1 million and once completed, the anticipated outcome is a contribution of approximately 555 000 MWh of clean energy to the national grid.
The social infrastructure projects
The social infrastructure projects are responsible for addressing backlogs, planning, financing, and implementation support to non-municipal infrastructure projects including bulk water, higher education, student accommodation, project implementation support for the construction and maintenance of houses, schools and health facilities.
HIV voluntary counselling and testing
We implemented the Power of Knowing franchise model which is aimed at improving access to quality counselling and voluntary HIV testing, free treatment in line with the National Department of Health's policy on access to free treatment for HIV.
The outcomes from the project since inception include 28 clinics refurbished in Limpopo and the Northern Cape as well as increased uptake in testing among men.
Tembisa pedestrian cycle rail
The city of Ekurhuleni is receiving project and infrastructure finance to fix the Tembisa pedestrian underpass bridges, which is a collaboration between the city and Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).
The project is set to reduce the number of fatalities on the route, provide attractive safe and user-friendly pedestrian and cycle underpass as well as improve the safety and security of pedestrians and residents of the area.
Social housing project
The social housing project is part of the Germiston urban renewal programme, which aims to develop the urban settlement into sustainable human settlement and Germiston into an administrative capital for the city. While the project is wholly managed by the Ekurhuleni housing company, we were tasked with the design, construction and contract management aspects.
Regional integration
The projects under regional integration aim to assist with the development of infrastructure outside of the borders of South Africa.
SADC water and sanitation fund
This project is responsible for the procurement of water and sanitation developmental services, implementation and supervision of these services within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
The projects include Kazungula water supply project in Zambia, Lomahasha-Namaacha cross-border water supply project, which will serve the people in Swaziland and Mozambique.
Kenya pipeline company
We funded this project to replace the old 450km multi-product fuel pipeline, which runs from Mombasa to Nairobi. The fuel pipeline is the main conduit feeding all imported fuel delivered at Mombasa inland to Nairobi for further distribution to neighbouring countries; Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, northern Tanzania, DRC and South Sudan.
The Ministry of Finance Angola
The project was established to upgrade and rehabilitate several national roads in the eastern part of Angola. The main focus was to build infrastructure that will facilitate investment and trade across the country.
ithezi-Thezi (ITT) hydropower generation project expansion
The ITT project is responsible for assisting with Zambia’s electricity demand for the coming 25 years, as well as to the consumers of member countries of the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP). The countries include Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and more.