Ramaphosa says investment in infrastructure is key to SA’s developmental goals

“Infrastructure investment is central to achievement of SA’s development goals,” these are words echoed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who emphasized the need for the government to close the infrastructure spending gap in the country.

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 Infrastructure is an enormous economic multiplier, providing dividends for an economy long after the infrastructure has been built.

“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,” 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,” Ramaphosa said.

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.

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.