The African Development Bank on Tuesday approved a $139 million loan to South Africa’s financial capital to upgrade its utilities, marking its first direct lending to a sub-sovereign entity.
Johannesburg is home to Africa’s richest square mile but certain areas have fallen into disrepair, with the city coming under fire from President Cyril Ramaphosa as it readies to host the G20 summit in November.
The loan will be used on “100 carefully selected projects” seeking to modernise electricity, water and waste infrastructure, the Ivory Coast-based bank said in a statement.
It is the first time the bank, which draws most of its resources from subscriptions by member countries, was loaning a subnational entity like cities and regional authorities.
“This historic transaction demonstrates the African Development Bank’s commitment to supporting creditworthy cities as engines of economic growth,” said AfDB’s director general for Southern Africa Kennedy Mbekeani.
Known as the city of gold or Jozi, Johannesburg has struggled with problems almost everywhere from burst water pipes to garbage piling up on street corners and cracked roads, a legacy of mismanagement.
Annual electricity losses stood at 30 percent for the past three years while water was at more than 46 percent, the AfDB said.
“Johannesburg is not just South Africa’s largest city — it contributes 16 percent to the country’s GDP and serves as a gateway for investment across the continent. By strengthening its infrastructure backbone, we’re investing in Africa’s urban future,” said Mbekeani.
In March, Ramaphosa lashed out at the state of the city of six million people, describing it as “not very pleasing” and urged authorities to spruce it up ahead of the November meeting.
“As South Africans we are proud people and let us get that pride to lift us up so that we do present a G20 that will wow people,” he said.
The new Johannesburg loan adds to another AfDB gave South Africa on Tuesday to promote energy efficiency and rail reforms worth more $474.6 million.
The loans come a week after World Bank also gave Africa’s most industrialised economy to $1.5 billion to revive its sluggish growth rate.
