With the Infrastructure Development Bill public hearings at an end, support has been given, criticism has been presented and questions have been raised. We could soon see President Jacob Zuma signing in the bill ,aimed fast-tracking government’s infrastructure development plans,and chairing the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission (PICC).

During this week’s public hearings, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), Transnet, Rand Water and Telkom all expressed support for the bill, saying it will help fast-track key projects that will propel the economy.

The organisations did, however, raise concerns about the bill. Among these were that the organisational structure envisaged by the bill, such as the PICC,could be too top-heavy and delay decisions.

Criticism has come from former IMESA president Jannie Pietersen who criticised the bill, warning that South Africa will be facing a major infrastructure catastrophe if it doesn’t deal with the crisis and manage its infrastructure properly.

Pietersen addressed the National Assembly’s economic development committee on behalf of IMESA yesterday – the last day of public hearings on the Infrastructure Development Bill. He argued that there is little or no planning for how municipalities are to manage the infrastructure assetsfor which they are responsible. 98% of the national, provincial and local governments’ efforts went into building new infrastructure, but little thought was given to how the existing assets are managed, he said.

Pietersen estimates that it would cost R2 000 billion to replace municipal infrastructure in South Africa’s major cities. “We need to understand where our risks are and which infrastructure we should be concentrating on from a risk perspective.”

Although committee chairperson Elsi Coleman agreed that South Africa was sitting on a “time bomb” with regard to the established assets, she believes that the bill addresses this and recommended that Pietersen take his presentation to a PICC steering committee.