President Cyril Ramaphosa aims to attract R3 trillion from the private sector to develop South Africa’s infrastructure.
Speaking at the South African Sustainable Infrastructure Development (Sissa) Symposium in Cape Town on Tuesday, Prime Minister Ramaphosa said the government is now in a position to mobilize trillions of rands of long-term savings, managed by domestic and offshore institutions, into South Africa’s infrastructure boom.
Mr Ramaphosa said South Africa’s infrastructure boom was now poised to materialize because the government had devised clearer, more forward-looking financing methods for these projects that are needed to give stakeholders the confidence they need to invest.
He said public infrastructure spending over the next three years would exceed R1 trillion, referring to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s comments in the budget that infrastructure spending would be the fastest-growing item in the budget.
He said he wanted to quadruple the R1 trillion announced by Godongwana to R4 trillion, with the remaining R3 trillion coming from the private sector.
“That’s where the money should come from,” he said.
“Armed with that, we will be an unstoppable locomotive, because out of the R3 trillion that you will invest, you will get a good return and make money. And we can rebuild South Africa and turn it into a real building site.”
reform
“We are implementing the necessary reforms to make it easier to build more by reducing regulatory duplication and providing long-term certainty for investors.”
As part of this, Prime Minister Ramaphosa said the government is implementing reforms to make public-private partnerships (PPPs) easier, faster and more predictable. These reforms include making it easier and faster to obtain approval for PPP projects of less than R2 billion and significantly reducing the procedural complexity of implementing such projects.
Mr Ramaphosa said for too many years major projects had been announced without technical preparation, cost realism and stakeholder coordination.
He said some in government would recognize this because in the past, the government had not matched its big ambitions with the reality of the availability of technical skills to make projects bankable, and also the availability of the finance needed for these projects.
“All of this was completely disconnected, so as politicians, we stand up and say we’re going to build this and that and everyone claps their hands. But years later, you’ll see that not much is happening because we weren’t connecting the dots properly.”
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He added: “At the beginning of the project, we had a ceremony where the president and ministers turned over the soil, but we spent a lot of money just to dig the holes. Then it takes years to complete the project and come back to cut the ribbon.”
Infrastructure SA plays an important role
Mr Ramaphosa said Infrastructure South Africa was set up to break the “horrible” pattern of the past, in which governments would raise the hopes of the people each year and make a mad dash towards the end of the year.
He emphasized that Infrastructure SA contributes to faster project approvals and plays an important role in project preparation and financing, which gives financiers and material suppliers more hope and confidence in the established structures.
“This organization has become a center of excellence within government, demonstrating what is possible when the brightest minds tackle our most complex challenges.”
Mr Ramaphosa said over the past five years, more than three-quarters of all requests to Infrastructure SA to unlock permits, approvals and licenses have been successfully resolved.
He said that when Infrastructure SA is involved, the average time it takes for regulatory bodies to issue permits, licenses and approvals is just 85 days.
strategic project
Prime Minister Ramaphosa said that under the Infrastructure Development Act, Cabinet is empowered to establish Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs) and that Infrastructure SA can expedite the regulatory and approval process.
He said the capital value of these projects had increased from an initial R340 billion in 2020 to more than R1.3 trillion in 2025.
“This is not Mickey Mouse! This is real and what is happening in our country.
“This value is supported by huge demand for privately financed projects that require only rapid regulatory approval to reach financial close.”
Mr Ramaphosa said these projects span energy, water and sanitation, transport and logistics, digital infrastructure and human settlements and are “transforming people’s lives”.
He said the Infrastructure Fund also has a tangible impact on the infrastructure environment, having packaged around 26 mixed finance projects across several sectors since its inception, with a capital value of around R102 billion.
“Through this model, we de-risk our projects and free up capital from pension funds, commercial banks and international financial institutions.
“Projects supported include the Cape Town container terminal and eThekwini’s non-revenue water program.”
Now it’s time to deliver – McPherson
Minister for Public Works and Infrastructure Dean McPherson said the Sissa Symposium was about implementation, not ideas.
“It’s not about what we do, it’s about what we do and what we build next.
“Sidssa is also a space for innovation, new ideas and best practices, but at its foundation is a delivery platform,” he said.
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Mr McPherson said Sidsa 2025 marks a significant moment in South Africa’s infrastructure development journey as major infrastructure developments are currently underway.
He said since the Sidsa platform was launched in 2020, more than 300 SIPs have been gazetted, and more than two-thirds of them are currently being procured or under construction.
“And since 2021, over R300 billion of infrastructure investment has been injected to create jobs, stimulate local economies and address the most pressing service delivery gaps,” he said.
Local government recruitment pilot
Mr McPherson said the government was also piloting the Local Government Adoption Programme, which provides infrastructure planning and implementation support directly to local authorities.
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He also welcomed the signing of two important memoranda of understanding (MoU) on Tuesday that will “accelerate the delivery of our infrastructure”.
MoUs were signed with:
Meridium SAS, a global investor and asset manager, will fund the project preparatory work associated with the Adopt-A-Municipality infrastructure pilot project. Huawei will support governments in pre-providing broadband to human settlements, and will work on futuristic technology-enabled models in schools and public facilities.
