Cape Town has set a new South African record for infrastructure investment by a city government, spending R12.24 billion on capital projects during the 2025/26 financial year.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis announced the milestone during a City Council meeting on Thursday, describing it as the highest annual capital expenditure ever achieved by a South African municipality. The final figure will be confirmed after financial reconciliations are completed, but the City says the amount is close to final.

Hill-Lewis said the achievement surpassed even the infrastructure spending undertaken by municipalities ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

“When we started this term of office, the City could not achieve a capital expenditure of more than R6 billion a year. In some years it was below that. In the course of this term, we have more than doubled that.”

He said the investment was not simply about setting a record but about ensuring Cape Town keeps pace with population growth and avoids the infrastructure decline experienced in many other South African cities.

“It is a milestone that sets Cape Town apart from every other city in South Africa right now,” Hill-Lewis said, arguing that sustained investment in roads, water, sanitation, electricity and other public infrastructure is key to the city’s long-term growth.

The mayor also thanked City staff, construction companies and engineering firms for scaling up their capacity to deliver projects over the past five years, saying their efforts had helped more than double the City’s annual capital spending.

Hill-Lewis said Cape Town continues to out-invest the three Gauteng metros combined on infrastructure and attributed the city’s performance to long-term planning and sustained capital investment.

During the council meeting, the City also recognised its top-performing directorates for spending their capital budgets.

The Safety and Security Directorate was named the best-performing department overall after spending 99.85% of its R426 million capital budget, while the Energy Directorate topped the City’s “Billions Club” of departments with annual capital budgets exceeding R1 billion, spending 96.53% of its R1.34 billion allocation.

Hill-Lewis said the investments are improving services, expanding affordable housing opportunities, strengthening public transport and making neighbourhoods safer.