Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has launched a data strategy to catapult service delivery into the Digital Age.
The City has secured three-year technical advisory services with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (UKFCDO) to support the implementation of this first data strategy.
This is a first for an African city and will position Cape Town to become a leading city on the continent for use of data-driven delivery and planning.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says: “Some projects that have already benefited from the better use of data are the data-driven approach to the Covid-19 response, informal settlements data collection, and data-driven infrastructure asset management, among others.
“The private sector and civil society are also extracting greater public value from the City Open Data Portal by leveraging data on aspects such as housing, transportation and energy to develop tools that help the public confidently make decisions in their everyday lives.”
Hill-Lewis said residents and stakeholders could access all sorts of useful data on the Open Data Portal.
“This ranges from data and maps on basic services, demographics and infrastructure to ongoing water quality sampling data for inland and coastal waterbodies.”
He said the city was increasingly measuring services and infrastructure performance so that it could better manage delivery to the public.
“We have installed digital tracking systems across our water, sanitation,and energy infrastructure and invested in human resources to monitor and dispatch rapid response teams where issues arise.
“We are just getting started, and we encourage the public to continue working with us as we improve the quality and scope of data to underpin our efforts to build a future-fit City of Hope for all.”
Weekend Argus