Back to Insights

The application of Technology in Intermediate Cities – Towards Long Term Infrastructure Planning

7 November 2022

In South Africa, there is growing evidence that urban migration is increasing in our intermediate cities. Hence, it is important that these cities have a strong and sustainable approach to their city development and urban management methods and strategies, in the process of ramping up. Laying the right track from the onset avoids costly mitigating measures and changes in directions in the medium to long term. Cities are under pressure to cope with rapidly increasing populations but at the same time need to understand how to reap the urban dividend due to this emerging phenomenon. One of the critical policy instruments espoused in the Integrated Urban Development Framework is the introduction of integrated and collaborative long-term infrastructure planning. In the South African local government context, this policy instrument takes the form of a Capital Expenditure Framework (CEF) – legislated through the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Acts.

Novus3 was represented at the Green Buildings Council of South Africa’s 15th conference in the City of Cape Town during the week of 31 October to 04 November 2022, presenting during the session ”Intermediate Cities: inculcating Long Term Infrastructure Planning”.

During this session, we presented not only the benefits of developing a CEF but also the significant benefits to be harnessed by municipalities by using technology as a means to conduct long-term planning in a complex environment. Key conclusions to the session were that:

  • Technology choices should be fit for purpose in long-term modeling and infrastructure forecasting;
  • Tools, regardless of their sophistication, are only as valuable as the underlying business process that supports them;
  • In an environment synonymous with capacity challenges on all fronts, especially in intermediate city municipalities, the application of technology in planning and budgeting processes has been shown to relieve significant pressure and has resulted in sustainable and measurable positive impacts.

 

For more information, feel free to contact us at info@novus3.co.za

Read more

Share

© 2021 Novus3 Pty (Ltd).

Capital investment prioritisation

Novus3’s innovative and celebrated approach to prioritsation, stems from significant multi-disciplinary experience that was gained in-situ at local government level, firmly rooted in an understanding of the built environment. Through the use of the CP3 system, our clients have the ability to appraise large and complex capital demand requirements within minutes, resulting in defendable, evidence based budgets. The results are often challenged and stress tested by politicians during political debates – the process therefore repeatedly have been proven to be beyond reproach and consistently reliable.

IDP Process Plan and change management

Novus3 provides advisory services to our clients, supporting them in setting up the correct structures and mechanisms internally which becomes the basis for sustainable and collaborative planning and implementation. The IDP process plan has a number of inter-related complexities that plays out on a cyclic basis year-on-year. Pre-empting and reacting to upcoming requirements in the IDP process pro-actively, renders the process into a constructive and demonstratable outcomes-based process.

Public sector budget and fiscal impact simulation

The financial management of public sector funding at local government level, even on a small scale, often rivals the complexity encountered at huge, listed, multi-national companies in the private sector.. Local governments have to operate and make smart financial decisions within a complex and exceedingly stressful environment. Compliance with legislation, policy frameworks and accepted accounting practices have to be maintained. Simulating these complexities allows our financial executives to ask “What if?” questions and reliably peer into the future with a long-term understanding of the implications of decisions that are taken in the present.

Spatial Development Frameworks

Novus3’s specialised knowledge and access to bespoke and purpose-made spatial and other analytic tools, provided the company with the opportunity to develop unparalleled experience in the development of Capital Expenditure Frameworks (CEFs) by bringing a practical angle to the formulation of implementation plans. A realistic roadmap is provided on how to realise the objectives developed in the Spatial Development Frameworks of the municipalities where we were involved. In return for the development and submission of these CEFs, these municipalities were awarded with significant additional funding from central government.

Built Environment Performance Plans

As part of the National Treasury City Support Program, Novus3 was regarded as specialist advisors on the built environment value chain – a process embedded in Built Environment Performance Plans (BEPPs). BEPPs were intended to form the bedrock of municipal capital planning and management for larger cities (metros). Novus3’s specialist knowledge played a big role from an advisory and capacity building perspective during the development of a number of BEPPs that were developed for a number of metros.

Infrastructure Capital Investment Plans

Infrastructure investment has to find a balance between addressing historical backlogs and inequalities, maintaining satisfactory prevailing functionality and level of service and strategically investing in unlocking future opportunities and growth whilst acknowledging a plethora regulatory constraints, policies and rules. In the process, certain strategic outcomes are sought which may manifest spatially strategically or environmentally. Our infrastructure capital investment plans provide the strategic guideline and provide the recommendations to find this balance.

Capital Expenditure Frameworks

Novus3 has developed multiple capital expenditure frameworks (CEFs) for multiple municipal clients and are regarded as the sector leaders in this area. These CEFs are financial roadmaps providing clear direction on financial constraints, the most important capital and investment priorities, an understanding of the unique local fundamentals and a sustainable response to these multiplicity of challenges.

Project preparation processes

The efficient planning and execution of projects from the moment of idea conception until the last brick has been laid has been the subject of study from as early as the reign of the Roman Empire. The governance process within the public sector has to play an important role in the journey of project preparation. The under-expenditure of allocated funding regrettably is often the only element in the built-environment that consistently re-occurs. All too often, funding is allocated to projects that simply are not ready to proceed to the next step. Novus3’s CP3 system is used to aid clients in the progressive steps involved in the project preparation journey.