Infrastructure drive gathering pace – Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to infrastructure development as a key driver of economic growth and job creation.
In his weekly newsletter on Monday, he said various reforms and initiatives have helped accelerate the country’s infrastructure drive.
Ramaphosa stressed that South Africa must increase construction activity and ensure reliable, consistent infrastructure maintenance to achieve the economic growth needed to create jobs.
The president says the government will ramp up efforts to boost infrastructure investment by both the state and private sector to support economic recovery, growth, and job creation.
He highlighted investment in key infrastructure—such as airports, roads, railways, public transport, water, energy, and telecommunications—as critical to economic progress.
"To ensure that construction projects get going faster and are finished sooner, Infrastructure SA has launched a project preparation fund worth R180 million to prepare and package infrastructure projects across government.
Recently revised regulations for public-private partnerships will help to further unlock private sector expertise and funds for infrastructure.
“The challenge of the construction mafia that the industry has faced is being tackled head-on by the South African Police Service. Its Economic Infrastructure Task Teams are making headway in dealing with this criminality," he said.
Ramaphosa noted that capital investment had declined for years due to economic challenges, state capture, bureaucratic red tape, and low investor confidence.
However, according to a recent Nedbank report, infrastructure investment is rising.
The total value of new projects announced by public and private sectors last year reached R445 billion -more than double the previous year and the highest since 2021.
"It is significant that more than 78% of the value of this infrastructure investment was from government and state-owned enterprises.
“According to Statistics South Africa, capital spending by state-owned enterprises and national, provincial and local governments continues to rise.
“The private sector is lagging behind the state in infrastructure development spending. However private sector entities announced investment plans in 2024 with a total value of R95 billion.
“These included an R18 billion mixed-use development in Gauteng, an R4 billion investment by Volkswagen to upgrade its Kariega facility in the Eastern Cape and a new private university for the Western Cape.
|During the State of the Nation Address and debate, the government outlined a number of infrastructure projects underway across the country," said Ramaphosa.
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