The fund is expected to help South Africa improve the performance of its eight large cities by making them more inclusive, productive and sustainable through the Cities Support Program. CSP is a South African government urban initiative, coordinated by the country’s National Treasury.
“The objective of the Cities Support Program is to support the spatial transformation of our cities,” said Malijeng Nqaleni, deputy director general for intergovernmental relations at the National Treasury.
“Our partnership with the World Bank and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs allows us to tap into the bank’s global experience, best practice and technical skills across a range of sectors in order to create more sustainable urban built environments.”
It is hoped that over the next five years CSP will improve targeted areas such as public financial management, infrastructure finance, land management and integrated urban transport planning, the bank said.
Swiss ambassador Helene Budliger Artieda said the partnership presented an opportunity to support policy reform and institutional capacity building.
She added that the Swiss government would share its experiences in areas like public finance to help secure balanced economic development and sustainable urban infrastructure.
Guang Zhe Chen, World Bank country director for South Africa, noted that implementing development solutions in large cities was becoming increasingly critical to growing the economy, creating employment and reducing poverty.
