Given the current economic downturn, government does not have the resources to look after all its assets, says Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) property management trading entity head Siza Sibande.
“Hence, we want to partner with the private sector to improve public facilities.”
Addressing a media conference at the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium South Africa 2024, held in Cape Town in March, Sibande noted that the DPWI was now focused on leveraging and optimising State assets.
“We developed a strategy that we call the State Immovable Asset Optimisation strategy.
“We have entered a new phase where government will apply partnerships/collaborations with the private sector, such as refurbishment, operate and transfer; and build, operate and transfer.
“The focus here is to leverage State assets by unlocking the value of underutilised immovable State assets.”
Sibande noted that the State had the biggest asset portfolio in the country, “yet the value we created out of these assets was close to zero”.
He added that the State’s targeted immovable asset portfolio comprised about 29 000 land parcels, or 4.7-million hectares of land.
“This is quite a big portfolio that should be able to create a return on investment.”