The Ledger SA

Roads and infrastructure · Eastern Cape

Nelson Mandela Bay

Is the city maintaining and upgrading what it has?

2.6%

of the value of its property, plant and equipment went on repairs and maintenance in 2024-25. Treasury’s guideline is 8%.

Official: National Treasury, Municipal Money · Data as of 2024-25 financial year (audited) · Last updated

Compare all eight metros: Roads and infrastructure. An asterisk marks a figure our automated checks found inconsistent with another official figure; it is shown as reported, explained in a footnote and left out of rankings.

Spending on what the city builds and keeps

Official: National Treasury · Data as of 2024-25 financial year (audited) · Last updated

Two of Treasury’s norms: spend 95% to 100% of the capital budget (new, renewed and upgraded assets), and spend about 8% of the value of property, plant and equipment on repairs and maintenance each year.

What these words mean
Capital budget
Money set aside to build, renew or upgrade things that last for years: pipes, roads, substations, clinics.
Adjusted budget
The budget after the council’s mid-year changes. Spending is measured against this one.
Repairs and maintenance
Spending to keep existing roads, pipes and buildings working. Treasury’s guideline is about 8% of what those assets are worth each year.
Property, plant and equipment
Everything physical a metro owns and uses: networks, roads, buildings, vehicles. Its value is the yardstick for maintenance.
Treasury norm
A target National Treasury sets for every municipality in MFMA Circular 71, so metros can be compared on the same scale.
Capital budget spent · 2023-24

89.1%

Treasury norm: 95% to 100%

Capital (new, renewed and upgraded assets) spent, as a share of the adjusted capital budget.

Source: National Treasury, Municipal Money; calculated with the Circular 71 formula.

Repairs and maintenance · 2024-25

2.6%

Treasury norm: 8%

Spending on repairs and maintenance as a share of the value of property, plant and equipment.

Source: National Treasury, Municipal Money; calculated with the Circular 71 formula.

  • *1 As reported to National Treasury. This figure is inconsistent with the possible range for capital budget spent in percent (above 150% means spending more than 1.5 times the budget) (0 to 150) and may be a reporting error.

Capital budget: spent vs planned

Official: National Treasury · Data as of 2024-25 financial year (audited) · Last updated

MetroYear to JuneOriginal budgetAdjusted budgetAudited spendMonthly reports
Nelson Mandela Bay2023R1.64bnR1.83bnR32.03bn*1R1.75bnunaudited, 12 of 12 months
Nelson Mandela Bay2024R2.00bnR1.81bnR1.61bn*2R1.10bn*3unaudited, 12 of 12 months
Nelson Mandela Bay2025R1.97bnNot yet publishedR1.32bnNot yet published

Source: National Treasury, Municipal Money, capital_v2 (new, renewal and upgrading of assets). Each amount links to its exact query. Audited spend is the audited actual. Monthly reports are the sum of the unaudited Section 71 monthly figures, for reference only. Automated checks: audited spend above 1.5 times the original budget, covering fewer than half the functions in the monthly reports, more than 25% away from the sum of 12 monthly reports, or more than 3 times (or under a third of) the year before; monthly figures with a single month above half the annual budget, or a large entry later reversed.

  • *1 As reported to National Treasury. This figure is inconsistent with the original budget (it is 19.5 times the budget); and with the sum of the 12 monthly reports to Treasury (it differs from that figure by 1735%) and may be a reporting error.
  • *2 As reported to National Treasury. This figure is inconsistent with the sum of the 12 monthly reports to Treasury (it differs from that figure by 47%); and with the year before (it is 19.9 times smaller than the 2022-23 figure) and may be a reporting error.
  • *3 As reported to National Treasury. This figure is inconsistent with the original budget (month 1 alone is 1581% of it); and with normal monthly reporting (a large entry in month 1 is reversed in month 4) and may be a reporting error.

2025-26, unaudited: capital spending

Official: National Treasury, Section 71 (unaudited) · Data as of 30 June 2026 (2025-26, 12 of 12 months, unaudited) · Next update expected November 2026 (Treasury’s next quarterly Section 71 release)

48%*

of its adjusted capital budget: Nelson Mandela Bay spent R1.01bn of R2.12bn in the full year (preliminary) of 2025-26, as it reported to Treasury.

* As reported to National Treasury. This figure is inconsistent with capital spending by source of finance in the same report and may be a reporting error.

Unaudited: what each metro reported to National Treasury for the full year (preliminary) of 2025-26, to 30 June 2026. Capital spending here covers every kind of capital project, so it is wider than the audited “new, renewed and upgraded assets” measure above. The audited years stay the reference; these figures are not used in headlines. Source: Treasury’s summary of metros workbook (all files).

Infrastructure grants: given vs spent

Official: National Treasury, Municipal Money (spending unaudited) · Data as of 2025-26 financial year (spending unaudited) · Last updated

What these words mean
Infrastructure grants
Money national government gives metros for a set purpose, such as housing land and services or public transport. Unspent money can be taken back.

2023-24

Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG)
YearAllocatedSpent
2023-24R614.9mNot reported0 of 12 monthly reports
Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG)
YearAllocatedSpent
2023-24R100.4mNot reported0 of 12 monthly reports
Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant (NDPG)
YearAllocatedSpent
2023-24R29.0mNot reported0 of 12 monthly reports
Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG)
YearAllocatedSpent
2023-24R348.0mNot reported0 of 12 monthly reports

2025-26 so far

Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG)
YearAllocatedSpent
2025-26R663.8mNot reported0 of 12 monthly reports
Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG)
YearAllocatedSpent
2025-26R298.2mNot reported0 of 12 monthly reports
Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG)
YearAllocatedSpent
2025-26R390.0mNot reported0 of 12 monthly reports

USDG: Urban Settlements Development Grant (land, services and housing). PTNG: Public Transport Network Grant (bus rapid transit and other public transport). NDPG: Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant. RBIG: Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (bulk water and sanitation). Spending is what the metro reported each month, added up; fewer than 12 reports means part of the year is missing, and one report can hold a whole year. Treasury’s dataset has no 2024-25 grant figures. Source: National Treasury, Municipal Money, grants.

Still to come on this page

  • Big projects: budget, progress and completion. Nelson Mandela Bay’s capital budget and annual report · no official source lists metro projects as data: Treasury publishes only totals, and project lists sit inside each metro’s budget and annual-report documents, in different layouts