The South African Presidency unveiled 12 major infrastructure projects to boost the country’s transportation, energy, housing, construction, education and various other sectors of the economy during the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium of South Africa (SIDSSA) in Cape Town last week. Kenny Morolong, Deputy Minister in the Presidency, explains how the country will work together with the private sector to unlock funding for these projects in an exclusive interview with Energy Capital & Power.
President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled the 12 priority projects for the year 2024. What are these initiatives, and how will they contribute to economic growth?
These projects address issues ranging from water supply to energy security, and will have a significant impact on our society and economy. They will help stimulate the economy, rebuild and grow infrastructure, and create lots of jobs. Just one project will represent an investment of 60 billion rands. These projects will also ensure that our ports are functioning efficiently and are in a position to facilitate broader economic development both in South Africa and in the region, in line with the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
The President announced that he wants to loosen bottlenecks around the licensing process. What other mechanisms are you pursuing to ensure greater involvement of the private sector in infrastructure build up?
Speeding up licensing processes is very vital for the country to attract financing and be able to rollout these projects in line with GDP growth targets. This is our role as the public sector to clear these bottlenecks so that we are able to involve the private sector in economic development plans. ISA has been successful in tailoring solutions to navigate these bottlenecks. Some of them are dealt through operation Ulingawa and there have been clear strides made in this direction. For example, the time it takes to obtain a water license has been considerably reduced.
Since 2020, an investment of 2.4 trillion rands has flowed into more than 113 projects. What are the primary obstacles encountered in rolling out these projects, and how does the Office of the Presidency intend to tackle these challenges moving forward?
The construction industry is an important sector in our economy, with more than 1.2 million South Africans employed by the industry. The challenges that we face arise from the lingering effects of Covid 19. Many jobs were lost and the industry is still recuperating from the resulting downturn. To this end, the government and the private sector are working hand-in-hand to create opportunities for infrastructure development to thrive in South Africa. Through cooperation with the private sector and international investors, we aim to boost the flow of investment for infrastructure and in doing so, we hope to create more jobs for our people. We are also prioritizing local content development in the partnerships that we are forging, to ensure our local skilled workers and companies benefit from infrastructure projects.
What is the Office of the President doing to improve inclusivity and equal opportunities for women in the workplace?
This presidency is quite vociferous about including women in the economic future of our country. Our parliament is an indicative barometer of the commitment of the ruling party to make sure that women are adequately represented in decision making. 50% of our cabinet ministers are women and we work hard to make sure that women have the same opportunities as men at the forefront of change and in our growing economy. The person who is heading ISA is a female and we have various female leaders in our governing portfolio and who are leading the rollout of infrastructure in the country, including Hon. Bernice Swartz, Deputy Minister of Public Works and Hon. Sindisiwe Chikunga, Minister of Transport.
