SALGA: Construction density not achieved in South Africa over past 30 years

One of the mistakes of South Africa's transformation over the past 30 years has been the failure to ensure construction density, Sithole Mbanga, Chief Executive Officer of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), said during the ministerial roundtable at the 13th Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Report informs.

He explained that existing land was used without creating efficiency through densification: "Ideally, more than 10 families should be accommodated per hectare. Instead, we allocated specific plots to each family. If we had implemented digitalization earlier, perhaps this mistake could have been avoided."

Mbanga stressed that without digitalization, it is impossible to make the right decisions or respond quickly to events:

"Data‑driven governance also enables the digitalization of processes. At one time, digitalization was a concept that frightened many. Everyone was hesitant. But now it is clear that digitalization is an essential part of the solution. It makes everything transparent, which turns it into a core component."