Infrastructure Commission to compile list of SA's priority projects

South Africa’s newly established Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission, which is chaired by President Jacob Zuma, held its inaugural meeting in Pretoria on Thursday, where a commitment was made to the compilation of a list of priority economic and social projects within two months.
 
The body, which was unveiled following the midyear Cabinet lekgotla, would be supported by a management committee, chaired by Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti, and a secretariat composed of government officials.

The committee also included eight other Ministers with responsibilities for infrastructure development including Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, provincial premiers, represented by North West Premier Thandi Modise and metropolitan council mayors, represented by a representative of the South African Local Government Association. CEOs from infrastructure-focused State-owned enterprises (SoEs), such as Eskom and Transnet, would also be consulted when the need arose. There would also be interaction with the private sector on possible public-private partnerships, which could be necessary to deal with the current backlogs, owing to limited public sector resources.
 
The commission itself would provide leadership to the committee and would meet four times a year. However, following the inaugural gathering it would meet again in the coming two months to firm up on the priority projects and action plans around these.
 
Its establishment was viewed as necessary owing to the current lack of coordination and integrated planning surrounding key infrastructure projects and poor or delayed project execution.

It also underlined the importance government ascribed to South Africa’s promised R1-trillion, five-year public investment programme and its aspiration to unblock impediments to these project in a bid to stimulate growth, establish local supply industries and to bolster employment.
 
This programme, which included the investment plans of the SoEs, had thus far failed to live up to expectations, leaving the domestic construction industry in an effective recession.

Commenting on the commission at a briefing in Pretoria, Cabinet spokesperson Jimmy Manyi indicated that the committee would review the legislative and regulatory frameworks surrounding these capital programmes, as well as where these might be resulting in unintended delays to delivery.

"It was agreed that the commission will focus on accelerating the planning of priority projects," Manyi said.

The social infrastructure identified for attention related to housing, school, water, sanitation and health backlogs in rural towns, large cities and informal settlements. While the economic infrastructure priorities related to the areas of roads, ports, rail, power and communications.
 
The contribution of infrastructure expenditure to gross domestic product had already fallen to around 9% and it was projected to decline to below 8% in the coming two years.
 
By elevating infrastructure to the level of the President, Cabinet hoped that hurdles in the way of megaprojects could be cleared expeditiously and that the decline in expenditure trends could be arrested.
 
The commission could eventually seek to develop a ten-year rolling pipeline of priority projects, which would be updated yearly. Further, it could seek to unblock regulatory and funding constraints, set five-year project priorities, create certainty about the expected developmental and industrial spin-offs, support the revitalisation of rail infrastructure, gain a handle on the life-cycle maintenance challenge, and improve the linkages to poor and rural communities.
 
The commission could also seek to ensure systematic selection, planning and monitoring of large projects.

Source: Engineering News - Friday, 9 September 2011