The City of Cape Town on Thursday welcomed the decision by the World Bank to rank it as the top opportunity metropolis in Africa.
“It is a confirmation of the city’s commitment to provide better services to residents and create an enabling environment for businesses to flourish, while creating fair access to jobs,” said Cape Town’s Mayor-elect Dan Plato.
In its “Doing Business in South Africa” report released earlier this week, the bank said that when it comes to the ease of doing business, Cape Town is the number one metropolitan municipality in Africa.
The World Bank assessed metros in 190 economies, including South Africa’s nine metropolitan municipalities. Cape Town came out on top of the eight South African metros assessed in two of the World Bank’s four indicators.
Cape Town is South Africa’s legislative capital with a population of about four million.
The city ranks first as the city in dealing with construction permits. New businesses take 88 days to obtain all the necessary licences and permits, completing required notifications and inspections, nearly half to Johannesburg’s 155-day period.
Among other key indicators that were top priorities for investors were reliable infrastructure which costs the city six billion rand (about 416 million U.S. dollars) annually, fast internet and energy security. The city has set a goal of sourcing up to 20 percent of Cape Town’s energy supply from renewable energy by 2020.
“While we are proud of its track record in government, I want to echo Mayor Patricia De Lille’s sentiment that we must not become complacent and continue to do all we can to provide residents with better access to opportunities,” said Plato, who will replace De Lille by the end of October.
Plato said that when he became mayor, he would ensure that the city build on the successes of the city and strengthen its ties with the Western Cape provincial government so that innovative programs that address the challenges the Capetonians face.
Cape Town is run by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA).
“The DA-led City of Cape Town has made great progress and together we will be able to do more so that every resident of Cape Town is able to live their best life,” Plato said.
