USE THE BROADBAND NETWORK TO PROPEL SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
By rolling-out its own broadband network infrastructure, the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, is following in the footsteps of some of the well-managed cities worldwide. The Independent Development Corporation recently reported that the efficient use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Kenya and predominantly in Nairobi has contributed 12.1% towards the Kenyan 2013 GDP. In this era of Knowledge Economy, the provision of broadband is as important as the delivery of water and electricity.
Cities like Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are an embodiment of what ICT can do for a City's socio-economic development. It's amazing how kids and teachers in these cities can use the Internet for educational purposes and pay almost nothing. The Joburg Broadband Network Project (JBNP) should enable our children to grow up easily interfacing with technology. By instilling ICT skills in the young, the City will be branding its determination to be a Smart-City, thereby anchoring its residents in the Knowledge Economy.
Be that as it may, the JBNP is a great, though somewhat lofty, idea in terms of the cost this might ultimately have on the City. We were informed more than once that an objective audit has determined that the JBNP is worth R1,1bn to date. It was therefore confusing to learn from the 4th Quarter report that such determination envisages two phases to this, and that the 2nd phase will only be determined in the 3rd or 4th quarters of 2014 / 2015 financial year. Two conflicting statements have been provided to us - which one do we believe?
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has noted the adverts in newspapers in which the City is inviting public participation regarding the establishment of the broadband network Municipality Owned Entity (MOE). Is this the most efficient model to extract the greatest benefit to the residents of the City? To what extent has the City comparatively investigated other means to effect the management of its broadband infrastructure? The management of eThekwini MetroConnect, for example, has been outsourced to an experienced ICT company. Our research shows that the City of Johannesburg will find it almost impossible to get the right skills to manage the proposed MOE.
Poor management of this MOE may open doors to the abuse of resources. We want to take this opportunity to urge the Mayoral Committee to ensure that the deployment of the broadband infrastructure benefits the City's development instead of few economic vultures. In other words, the City should use JBNP as a catalyst of socio-economic development.
The JBNP should consider working with Wits University to turn Braamfontein into an ICT Hub. This can be achieved by combining various models to achieve this. These include iHub (Nairobi), Silicon Roundabout (London), and Silicon Cape Initiative.
Rabelani Dagada is the DA Spokesperson on Joburg Broadband Network Project.
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