South Africa secured a new $925 million World Bank loan to revive eight of its major cities.
The money will go toward a six-year government program that seeks to incentivize city administrations to meet their operational and financial goals by offering additional funding, the country’s first-ever program-for-results initiative.
Services targeted include water, electricity, and waste — areas that have come under growing public scrutiny due to a wave of shortages and poor refuse collection — in cities including Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, and Pretoria.
A study last year found that poor allocation of funds, bureaucracy, a lack of ownership, and political interference were among the reasons South African municipalities were failing to keep infrastructure up to scratch.