While attending a Summit in London on Monday, South Africa’s President H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa promoted the country and continent as an investment destination of choice.
President Ramaphosa underlined the continent’s vast natural resources and its immense potential in the oil, gas and renewable energy sectors.
“Africa is ready to partner with investors and the private sector, because it has been proven many times over and in numerous countries that discerning investors who have the foresight to invest in Africa can earn good returns,” he said.
In South Africa, he called attention to the country’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and the national utility company, Eskom, which he said would be unbundled into three separate entities: generation, transmission and distribution in the long term.
In tune with H.E. Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, who said the IRP would be concluded imminently during his keynote address at the Africa Oil & Power conference last week, the President said: “we are finalizing our energy roadmap – called the Integrated Resource Plan – which includes a diversified portfolio of technologies, including more efficient and lower-emission coal technologies, nuclear, hydropower, gas, renewables and battery storage.”
On Africa’s capabilities as it undergoes industrialization, he said the continent’s need for infrastructure presents major opportunities for investment. “We need more dams, power plants, fiber optic cables and ports. We also need social infrastructure like roads, schools, public housing and clinics,” he said, adding that the African Development Bank estimates that the continent needs $130 billion to $170 billion a year in infrastructure investment.
