Speeding up spending on State infra-structure was one of the central challenges to progressing infrastructure development and job creation in South Africa, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel reported during a recent post State of the Nation Address media briefing.

But he stressed that the Presidential Infra-structure Coordinating Commission (PICC) was regularly meeting with provinces, metro-politan councils, government departments and State-owned enterprises to discuss the progress and accelerate the work programme.

The PICC was now monitoring 44% of all State infrastructure projects on a quarterly basis, with a focus on the 18 strategic infrastructure projects launched by President Jacob Zuma last year.

“This [amounts to] quarterly spending [of about] R24-billion of the full budget of R65-billion. “We are now tracking job creation within the R24-billion of spending. This portion alone provides jobs for about 145 000 people across the country,” Patel noted.

He said another challenge facing local infrastructure development and the associated job creation opportunities were obstacles that prevented the roll-out of infrastructure, such as the widely reported bitumen shortage, estimated at about 20% in the local market, that was hindering road construction in the country.

Patel noted that arrangements such as the International Trade Administration Commission’s rebate waiver at a rate of 10% on the import of petroleum bitumen because of the continued domestic shortage, and his department’s engagements with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research on alternative materials, were ad hoc and had to be complemented by significant investment in local capacity so that a faster infrastructure programme did not result in the “sucking in” of significant additional imports of components.

“Reducing the number of unemployed South Africans is our central challenge. We need to create the conditions in the economy and society that will sustain the growth in jobs and indeed accelerate it,” Patel stated, adding that the New Growth Path, which was introduced in October 2010, had created 603 000 jobs to date.

In line with its conviction that infrastructure was a key driver of job creation, government had, in addition, established the PICC in 2011, which had facilitated significant progress in this regard.

Between 2009 and the end of March, government would have spent about R860-billion on infrastructure development.

Patel noted that another notable example of progress was the 675 km of electricity transmission lines laid last year, which was the most in more than 20 years.

“In Mpumalanga, we are now ready to commence with the site clearing and construc-tion of the first new large rail lines by the State since 1986, with construction of the 63 km Majuba Rail coal line,” he added.

The De Hoop dam, together with the Mooi Mgeni dam, created a new water yield of 126-million cubic metres.

“Last year, we distilled our experience of infrastructure bottlenecks into new practices and proposed new legislation. “We want to speed up the processes and ensure that government acts in a more inte-grated and coordinated manner in consid- ering various authorisations for infrastructure build projects, such as water licences, environ-mental evaluations, zoning permissions and financing,” Patel indicated.

He noted that the international economic challenges, as well as local issues, including strike action in the mining sector, weighed on South Africa’s economy.

“It is precisely to address these cyclical challenges that government fast-tracked infrastructure investment,” he urged.

Meanwhile, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant stated that her department had worked hard to achieve government’s top priorities, which were to create a labour market that was conducive to investment to stimulate economic growth and employment.

“Some of the interventions we have undertaken include the registering of 288 153 work seekers against the target of 225 750. “We profiled, and provided employment counselling, to 50% of the total 345 215 registered work seekers. “We have also placed 6 273 workers against the target of 8 500,” she indicated.

Further, Oliphant said that 17 406 jobs had been created and 18 672 jobs saved through the
Industrial Developmental Corporation’s and the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s (UIF’s) R2-billion jobs fund.

Meanwhile, the Department of Labour, through the UIF had collaborated with the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) and the Manila International Container Terminal Seta in training unemployed insurance beneficiaries to become artisans or join the information and communi-cation technology-related field.

A total of R300-million had been set aside for the initiative over the next three years and, during the 2012/13 financial years, 3 500 unemployment insurance beneficiaries would undergo training by these Setas.