Ramaphosa says govt's infrastructure drive gathering pace because of reforms, initiatives he implemented

CAPE TOWN - President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the government's infrastructure drive was gathering pace because of various reforms and initiatives he'd implemented.
 
Ramaphosa also said "it is significant" that more than 78% of the value of infrastructure investment was from government and state-owned enterprises over the last few years.
 
Ramaphosa was writing in his latest newsletter, where the focus was on infrastructure.
 
President Ramaphosa said that according to Statistics South Africa, capital spending by state-owned enterprises and national, provincial and local government continued to rise.
 
The president also quoted a report by Nedbank, which found that the total value of new projects announced by both the public and private sectors last year amounted to R445 billion.
 
He said that this was more than double the year before and represented the largest fixed investment in infrastructure in South Africa since 2021.
 
But Ramaphosa said that the private sector was "lagging behind the state" when it comes to infrastructure development spend.
 
But he acknowledged how private sector entities announced investment plans in 2024 with a total value of R95 billion.
 
"These included an R18 billion mixed-use development in Gauteng, a R4 billion investment by Volkswagen to upgrade its Kariega facility in the Eastern Cape and a new private university for the Western Cape," said Ramaphosa.
 
Ramaphosa said to ensure that construction projects "get going faster and are finished sooner", Infrastructure SA had launched a project preparation fund worth R180 million "to prepare and package infrastructure projects across government".