PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA GIVES UPDATE ON INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Posted on by Gambeta News

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Fellow South Africans,
 
It is nearly four months since I stood here before a Joint Sitting of this Parliament to present to the nation the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.
 
This evening, we stand here not to make promises but to report on progress in the implementation of the recovery plan and the priority actions we must now take to restore growth and create jobs.
 
Since the launch of the plan, we have focused on four priority interventions:
 
– a massive rollout of infrastructure throughout the country,
 
– a massive increase in local production,
 
– an employment stimulus to create jobs and support livelihoods,
 
– the rapid expansion of our energy generation capacity.
 
We announced that we would be embarking on a massive rollout of infrastructure throughout the country.
 
We knew that to achieve this objective we would need to steadily rebuild technical skills within government to prepare and manage large infrastructure projects.
 
We have now developed an infrastructure investment project pipeline worth R340 billion in network industries such as energy, water, transport and telecommunications.
 
Construction has started and progress is being made on a number of projects.
 
Since the announcement of the Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, we have launched two major human settlements projects that will provide homes to almost 68,000 households in the Gauteng province.
 
Similar human settlements projects are planned in other provinces.
 
Two years ago I spoke about the dream of building new cities that will enable us to make a break with apartheid’s spatial development.
 
New post-apartheid cities are being conceptualised in a number of places in our country.
 
The Lanseria Smart City, the first new city to be built in a democratic South Africa, is now a reality in the making.
 
The draft masterplan for this smart city – which will become home to between 350,000 to 500,000 people within the next decade – was completed in November 2020 and is now out for public comment.
 
Progress is being made on several major water infrastructure projects.
 
These include Phase 2A of the Mokolo and Crocodile River project, and the uMkhomazi Water Project.
 
The Infrastructure Investment Plan identifies roads projects worth R19 billion covering the spine of the South African road network.
 
Work is underway to finalise project finance structuring for these projects.
 
Resources have been committed from the fiscus to support the construction and rehabilitation of the major N1, N2, and N3 highways.
 
These infrastructure projects will lead to the revival of the construction industry and the creation of much-needed jobs.
 
The R100 billion Infrastructure Fund is now in full operation.
 
This Fund will blend resources from the fiscus with financing from the private sector and development institutions.
 
Its approved project pipeline for 2021 is varied and includes the Student Housing Infrastructure Programme, which aims to provide 300,000 student beds.
 
Another approved project is SA Connect, a programme to roll out broadband to schools, hospitals, police stations and other government facilities.

 

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