Budget Speech 2023Municipal DebtInfrastructure investment |
Infrastructure investments lay the foundation for inclusive and sustainable growth; they address supply-side constraints; and expand access to basic services.
Overall, the public sector is projected to spend R903 billion on infrastructure over the medium-term. The largest portion of this, around R448 billion, will be spent by stateowned companies, public entities and through public-private partnerships.
These spending plans are mostly for strategic projects in the following sectors:
| • | Transport and logistics will spend an estimated R351.1 billion, including for SANRAL to improve the road infrastructure network. |
| • | Water and sanitation is planned to spend R132.5 billion over the next three years, mainly by the water boards. |
As we undertake infrastructure projects, we need to crack down on criminality in the construction sector. The extortion and intimidation of lawfully appointed contractors and the workers they employ cannot be tolerated.
Madam Speaker, allow me to highlight a few of the shovel-ready projects approved through the Budget Facility for Infrastructure:
| • | The 488-bed Limpopo Central Hospital will finally begin construction in March this year. |
| • | Phase 2 of the Welisizwe Rural Bridges programme breaks ground in April this year. It plans to install 96 bridges annually to enable rural communities in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Free State, and North West to safely access schools and workplaces. R3.8 billion is allocated for the programme over the medium term. |
The Sol Plaatje Municipality will repair aspects of the Riverton Water Supply Scheme, which is the only water source and supply system to Kimberly.
| • | The construction of enabling bulk infrastructure, such as roads and water components for the Lufhereng Mixed-Use Development in Gauteng, begins in June 2023. It will support the development of 31,000 mixed housing units. |
| • | Access roads for the Mzimvubu Water Project are nearing completion. The construction of the Ntabelanga Dam will begin later this year. Additional funding during the next financial year may be required to ramp up implementation. |
Site establishment for the Clanwilliam Dam projeect is completed. All surface works and 15% of all concrete works will be completed by the end of this year.
Our focus is not only on building new infrastructure, but also on maintaining existing infrastructure. We do this to ensure that it lasts long and performs to the required
standard.
At the same time, we are looking at initiatives to leverage private sector resources in public infrastructure delivery. This is to strengthen state capacity to expand infrastructure delivery and to catalyse private finance.
The initiatives include:
| • | Funding the development of a continuous, investible and transparent pipeline of projects and programmes. |
| • | Fast tracking the implementation of the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) regulatory review framework recommendations. |
| • | Pilot the implementation of conditional grant pledging that we enabled during the MTBPS. Its aim is to ensure the rollout of infrastructure is not constrained by the availability of funds in a particular year, if there is capacity to deliver more. |
The interventions in supporting growth are critical to the health and sustainability of the economy.
They need to be complemented by a policy environment that promotes the performance of productive sectors in an integrated way.
This will require difficult but necessary trade-offs to ensure that the appropriate support is properly targeted at the correct products and value chains.