To meet the ambitions of the National Development Plan (NDP), the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) was changing its approach to infrastructure investment, executive mayor Parks Tau said on Wednesday.

Delivering a keynote address at the second yearly Vision 2030 Summit, he said the city was increasingly aligning its development plans with national priorities.

The implementation of the NDP presented an opportune time to link local municipalities’ growth and development priorities with national policies and build resilient and sustainable infrastructure across the country, he said.

The CoJ was aggressively investing in infrastructure and was now “financially prudent”, enabling it to contribute to the needs of the NDP, with increasing focus on sustainability, including environmental sustainability and urban efficiencies.

He cited the CoJ’s low-carbon future commitments, which were starting to take shape, besides several other initiatives under way in the city’s journey to becoming a “smart city”.

The city was leveraging waste treatment for electricity generation and its biogas-to-energy project was already being implemented at two wastewater treatment works, with plans for deployed at the remaining works. This generates electricity directly from sewerage to power the wastewater works, he explained.

Further, the CoJ was examining opportunities of powering its vehicle fleet using a green fuel gas propulsion system and ensuring that its transport systems were more seamless and efficient along strategic transport corridors.

“It is not just about spatial injustice but urban efficiencies,” he commented, concluding that it was critical to ensure projects were sustainable and aligned to the vision of the NDP.