Infrastructure challenges in the western cape

I found this in “Micro-Economic Development Strategy (Meds) for the Western Cape: A Composite Report 2005 – 2009” by the WC Dept of Econ Dev and Tourism

 

“These key challenges are fundamentally infrastructural and institutional. The infrastructure problems are a dysfunctional transport system which restricts the ability of workers and tourists to move quickly, timeously and safely within its environs: a port which does not provide the rapid turn around service needed in this globalised world; a land allocation system still locked into a spatial framework inherited from the apartheid past and which was designed to separate rather than bring together workers and business in an efficient manner; finally a telecommunication system which is slow, expensive, and wholly inadequate in terms of broad band interconnectivity, hence restricting businesses and tourists alike in linking globally. These infrastructural issues curtail everyone, and if tackled and resolved would have a general impact, acting like a rising tide to lift all ships.”

 

That part is a bit old, written in 2006 but most of it probably still applies.  Certainly the spatial development of the city is a legacy from darker days. 

 

And Telkom, always holding us back… Stop sponsoring world cups, who is your competition anyway?  I have no choice but to use you, the least you could do is use all our hard earned money on infrastructure instead of expensive ad campaigns (no matter how catchy they are; Down, down, down, down, down)