Gauteng needs R1.8-trillion over the next 15 years to deliver the infrastructure required to support the economic development of South Africa’s economic powerhouse, Gauteng Premier David Makhura said at the recent Gauteng Infrastructure Investment Conference.

With some 412 infrastructure projects planned over a 15-year period, there is a deficit of some R1.6-trillion, with the Gauteng provincial government’s own allocation being less than R50-billion over the medium-term framework.

“This is not enough. We need more,” Gauteng Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile told delegates.

Infrastructure investment, maintenance and service delivery comprised the “lifeblood” of the required social and economic transformation of South Africa’s most populous province, he said.

Makhura reiterated that this remained one of the top priorities for the province’s Transformation, Modernisation and Reindustrialisation Programme, explaining that major institutional and policy intervention was required to reignite growth and promote inclusivity.

He pointed out that, for every R1 spent on infrastructure, 92c made its way into the Gauteng economy.

However, government just did not have the funds to meet the current or future infrastructure requirements and never would.

Makhura stressed the importance of public–private partnerships (PPPs) in mobilising the resources required to meet Gauteng’s infrastructure needs.

He further noted that the creation of an enabling environment needed to be accelerated to ensure private-sector participation in infrastructure development.

There was also a need to cut red tape and streamline approval processes.

“We need to play our role as government in restoring confidence in the economy and removing the uncertainties in our economy,” Maile noted, adding that, without the support of the private sector, the country would face difficulties in turning the embattled economy around.

Many panellists at the conference concurred that partnerships were key to infrastructure development; however, they suggested that the structure of tapping into financial instruments through partnerships should be revamped, particularly as there were still many challenges to the unlocking of the funds that were believed to be available and lying in wait.

Bluefield Investment MD Ravi Naidoo indicated that funds were available for infrastructure projects; it was just a matter of partnership structures being formed that could make those funds available where required.

“Infrastructure investment in Africa needs good matchmakers,” he commented, explaining the formation of partnerships and the importance of the right mix of partners, the importance of understanding the risks involved and acknowledging the roles and the limits of the partners.

There was no doubt that there was a strong need to invest in infrastructure through partnerships, said Gauteng Infrastructure Funding Agency CEO Oupa Seabi, adding that government and the private sector should unite to fast-track the identified infrastructure projects over the next decade-and-a-half.