South Africa’s latest infrastructure developments and investment opportunities were unpacked by a high-level panel of government stakeholders at the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium South Africa in Cape Town on Monday.
“Infrastructure investment is one of the central pillars and priorities of the sixth administration,” stated Sihle Zikalala, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, emphasizing that strengthened infrastructure aims to meet the demand of South Africa’s growing economy and population by building new schools, hospitals and power plants. “We have had 113 major infrastructure development projects since 2020 with R2.4 trillion invested.”
Kenneth Morolong, Deputy Minister in the Presidency, expanded on recent progress made in attracting infrastructure investments to the country, citing the establishment of state agency Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) in 2020 and the launch of the construction book – a repository of infrastructure projects entering the procurement and/or construction phase in the 2024/2025 financial year – by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“We will continue to work with ISA to leverage private and public sector funding. The launch of the construction book by the President signifies a huge milestone in advancing infrastructure,” said Morolong.
Taking place on March 17-19 at the Century City Conference Center, SIDSSA brings together key stakeholders in South Africa and across the continent with the aim of driving infrastructure development. SIDSSA 2024 serves as a crucial platform for discussions and partnerships in the infrastructure investment landscape, with a focus on accelerating economic activity through strategic infrastructure plans. Energy Capital & Power – the leading investment platform for the African energy sector – is a media partner for this important platform. For more information, visit https://SIDSSA.org.za/.
Mameetse Masemola, Acting Head of ISA, highlighted the mechanisms currently being utilized by the government agency to attract private sector funding and address South Africa’s infrastructure investment gap. According to Masemola, ISA has received R600 million from the South African treasury to fund projects with a high GDP impact over the next three years and which have not attracted funding in previous years.
“Almost R5.7 trillion is required to close the infrastructure investment gap by 2050. Our work is to ensure projects are viable and bankable, while ensuring alignment with the Infrastructure Development Act. We are also prioritizing private-public partnerships, and at the same time, working with authorizing departments to unblock project rollout bottlenecks,” she stated.
“We have mobilized R25 billion through the National Treasury, which we will use to raise over R70 billion from the private sector to fund infrastructure projects. We are ready to engage with investors to fund water, human settlement, logistics and energy projects,” added Mohale Rakgate, Head of the South Africa Infrastructure Fund.
Siza Sibande, Head of Property Management & Trading Entity under the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, underscored efforts to translate investment into catalysts for job creation, economic growth, economic empowerment and a more liberalized economy.
“We are looking at R32 billion at the moment to fix our public sector facilities…We have identified several assets that have the potential to boost economic growth and job creation through SMEs. We also want to respond to the National Development Plan 2030, of which our main priority is economic growth and contributing to the infrastructure agenda,” said Sibande.