IBM to support SA city water management plan

DEVELOPMENT

An international team of IBM executives has arrived in South Africa to provide their expertise to improving  the City of Tshwane’s water management systems. The project is part of the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge programme.

The City of Tshwane was awarded an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant earlier this year. The grant provides Tshwane with access to teams of specially selected IBM experts who will provide city leaders with analysis and recommendations to support successful growth, better delivery of municipal services, more citizen engagement, and improved efficiency around water services. The approximate value of each Smarter Cities Challenge grant is around USD400,000. 

During this engagement, teams of selected IBM experts will provide city leaders with analysis and recommendations to support successful growth, better delivery of municipal services, more citizen engagement, and improved efficiency.  

The outcome of the initiative will be a proposed roadmap to the City of Tshwane to help grow the city economically by addressing water wastage, water quality and water revenue.

“The City of Tshwane is looking forward to working with this team of executives from IBM exploring smarter solutions to improve the city’s operations while enhancing service delivery,” says Tshwane Executive Mayor, Councillor Kgosientso Ramokgopa.

IBM notes that water systems are essential to the growth of the economy. With deteriorating resources and exponential growth in water demand, an alarming percentage of South Africa’s water is going to waste. Water leaks alone account for many lost liters per day. Without smarter water management, the ability of the water system to meet the critical needs of people and business will be even more challenged.

“We at IBM are pleased to support the City in its aspirations to be a Smart City. We believe that by providing critical thinking and solutions beyond technology we can support the development goals particularly around economic development and poverty alleviation,” said Abraham Thomas, Country General Manager of IBM South Africa.

“The efforts of our international colleagues will also compliment the Smarter Cities work we currently have underway with several cities and metros in South Africa."

This is the eleventh  IBM team of experts to work in South Africa. Previous teams to South Africa have worked in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Eastern Cape as well as most recently with the City of Johannesburg.

IBM's Smarter Cities Challenge is an outgrowth of IBM's Corporate Service Corps grants program, in which IBM deploys teams of top employees to areas in the developing world to work on projects that intersect business, technology and society. Since the launch of Corporate Service Corps in 2008, nearly 1,400 IBM employees based in 50 countries have been dispatched on more than 140 team assignments in 24 countries.

The Smarter Cities Challenge is sponsored by IBM's Corporate Citizenship program and IBM's International Foundation.