Infrastructure investment central to achievement of SA’s development goals

President Cyril Ramaphosa says investment in infrastructure is central to the achievement of the country’s development goals.

“Infrastructure is an enormous economic multiplier, providing dividends for an economy long after the infrastructure has been built,” President Ramaphosa said.

Addressing the 2024 Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium of South Africa (SIDSSA) currently underway at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town, President Ramaphosa said the symposium is an important part of government’s effort to close the infrastructure spending gap in the country.

“It is estimated that to achieve our infrastructure goals, we need an additional R1.6 trillion in public sector infrastructure investment and a further R3.2 trillion from the private sector by 2030,” President Ramaphosa said.

A number of bold initiatives are being implemented to deliver infrastructure at the required scale and pace.

“We are working on reforms to develop sustainable infrastructure, lift business confidence and encourage investment.

“These reforms include the amendment of the Division of Revenue Act to enable provincial governments to use their infrastructure grants and budget allocations to crowd-in private sector finance for large social infrastructure programmes,” President Ramaphosa said.

READ | National Assembly approves Division of Revenue Amendment Bill

The President said amendments to the public-private partnership regulations, which have recently been published for public comment, are part of broader reforms to mobilise and pool public and private sector resources for infrastructure.    

“The operationalisation of the Infrastructure Fund has seen a steady growth in the portfolio of blended finance projects that use relatively small fiscal allocations to de-risk public infrastructure projects and raise finance in debt capital markets.

“Through the work that has been done in transforming the infrastructure landscape, the total value of the country’s Strategic Integrated Projects has grown from R340 billion in July 2020 to R540 billion now.

“Eighteen projects, valued at around R10 billion, have been completed, covering human settlements, roads, water and sanitation,” President Ramaphosa said.

According to the President, the value of projects currently in construction is over R230 billion.

“Projects worth nearly R170 billion are currently in procurement. In this calendar year, 11 such projects, with a total investment value of R45 billion, are expected to reach financial close.

“To date, Infrastructure South Africa has unblocked a total of R25 billion worth of projects in the renewable energy space using the Infrastructure Development Act to fast-track government authorisations,” the President said.

Hosted by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI), the symposium, in its third iteration, is intended to shape the conversations about regulatory and policy reforms, among them, innovative funding models for infrastructure development.

Ministers and Deputy Ministers are expected to anchor various panel discussions and technical discussions throughout the symposium.

SIDSSA 2024  will showcase the following outcomes :

–               Launch of the construction book: a repository of infrastructure projects going into procurement/construction in the 2024/2025 financial year.

–               Leaders forum: A gathering of South African Ministers with 22 participating Ministers from the African continent.

–               Top 12 Infrastructure project priorities: These projects will receive project preparation funding from Infrastructure South Africa.

–               Signing of MOU’s with important partners and stakeholders.

The Symposium will also provide the following updates:

–               Update on the gazetted Strategic Integrated Projects.

–               Update on the projects already receiving project preparation support.

–               Infrastructure Fund Project Pipeline.

– SAnews.gov.za