South Africa is on a path of accelerated progress with infrastructure development fuelling economic growth and job creation.

This according to Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, who spoke to SAnews on the sidelines of the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium South Africa, being held in Cape Town.

Macpherson cited the second edition of the Construction Book which showcases 250 fully funded infrastructure projects – worth at least R238 billion – as one example of government’s commitment to turning South Africa into a construction site.

“We are actively putting our money into those projects to ensure that they are prepared on time and on budget and that they have the best chance of success. We heard from the President and his commitment to driving infrastructure growth in the country, the R1 trillion that’s been committed by Minister [Enoch] Godongwana in the budget, record levels of investment in public infrastructure.

“You can start to see that this country is on the move, that infrastructure is at the heart of our growing economy and job creation plans,” he said.

Furthermore, Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) has announced the new top seven infrastructure priorities for 2025/26. These are:

• Boegoebaai Port and Rail Development in the Northern Cape;
• Project Alpha 300MW Gas to Power Project;
• City of Ekurhuleni Wastewater Conveyance and Treatment System Regionalisation;
• Coega SEZ 100MW Solar Farm – ground mount;
• South Africa Water Reuse Programme (WRP);
• ⁠Regional Energy Infrastructure, Storage and Distribution Programme by Limpopo Energy User Association; and
• ⁠Gauteng Urban Upgrade Programme, Johannesburg CBD.

The Minister highlighted the critical role that ISA has to play in the next few years.

“We are very optimistic about the role that [ISA] will play in being the central point of coordination, planning and preparation to make sure that budgets are spent; to make sure that projects are delivered [and] to make sure that our economy grows to create jobs,” the Minister told SAnews.

On Monday, Macpherson led a Leaders Forum at SIDSSA, which included Ministers from across the African continent, Premiers and local government leaders.

The Minister described discussions at the forum as “hugely important”.

“We were able to discuss and conceptualise how we need to find commonality in how we approach infrastructure projects on the continent…the language that we use, technical specifications and the agreements, the partnerships.

“You could really see a blossoming of cooperation in that room and so these are now conversations that we will want to take forward to the AU [African Union]; that we want to take forward into regional blocs and on a country-to-country basis,” he said.

Improving Municipal infrastructure

On the Adopt-A-Municipality initiative, Macpherson hailed it as an opportunity to improve the coalface of service delivery in South Africa.

The initiative – which is in its pilot phase at three municipalities – paves the way for ISA to work with municipalities to introduce rapid infrastructure interventions and assist with the delivery of infrastructure projects.

The scope of ISA’s work with the three – Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga – based municipalities will include:

• Project preparation and planning;
• Collaboration with municipalities and strategic partners to efficiently package projects and programmes;
• Assisting municipalities in developing robust and bankable business cases to attract funding from both public and private sectors;
• Streamlining approvals, authorisations, licences, and permissions to expedite project implementation and address regulatory bottlenecks that may hinder progress; and
• Implementing effective monitoring mechanisms to track project progress, ensuring accountability and the timely completion of infrastructure developments.

“We know that local government is really battling in the infrastructure space and that’s where communities really feel it the most. We have put together a plan to partner with municipalities over 24 months to have help with their project preparation and to help them deliver in those municipalities about R3.5 billion worth of infrastructure which is really big.

“That is hugely exciting and it came from the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Council in November. [But] it shows that we’re not just talking about things. We’re actually getting them moving and getting them going and I’m looking forward to showing the President those results in 24 months’ time about what the net result of properly planned and prepared infrastructure can be,” he said.

Originally posted on SAnews.gov.za