Maile stresses importance on infrastructure investment in Gauteng

Gauteng Finance MEC Lebogang Maile has reaffirmed that infrastructure investment remains key to driving long-term economic growth and improving service delivery in the province.

Delivering the provincial budget speech, Maile said R36.4 billion over the medium-term has been allocated towards infrastructure.

He said the province will increasingly rely on public-private partnerships (PPPs) to maximise resources in a constrained fiscal environment.

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This comes as the current concession for province’s flagship Gautrain project is set to expire in March.

He said the process to appoint a new concessionaire to operate and expand the system will be announced in the coming weeks.

Maile added that the provincial government is also looking to explore further PPP opportunities in sectors including water, energy and digital infrastructure.

“We have lots of pressures in our fiscal, and we have no choice but to make sure we fast-track these and make sure we attract a lot of private sector investment. We are very serious and businesslike in making sure that these PPPs succeed and work better to help us improve service delivery.”