President Cyril Ramaphosa has highlighted preparation – through the Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) project preparation roundtable – as the key to unlock South Africa\u2019s post COVID-19 economic recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis roundtable is the beginning of a more dedicated and structured approach to project preparation. It paves the way for greater private sector participation in this crucial stage of the project life-cycle. The South African government is committed to financing project preparation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The President delivered the opening address at the ISA project preparation roundtable at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
The ISA project preparation roundtable aligns with the first priority President Ramaphosa presented last month at the joint sitting of Parliament on the South African Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. <\/p>\n
The Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan outlines an aggressive infrastructure programme, far reaching reforms to increase competitiveness and inclusiveness, measures to catalyse industrialisation, relief for vulnerable households and individuals, and a public investment in employment programmes.<\/p>\n
This plan, which is underpinned by the agreements between social partners, outlines key interventions to kick-start the country\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
Among other things, we are prioritising economic reforms to unlock investment and growth, fighting crime and corruption, driving industrialisation with a focus on growing small businesses, improving the capability of the state, and creating jobs through mass public employment programmes. <\/p>\n
Another key priority intervention for government is to promote aggressive infrastructure investment and unlock R1 trillion over the next four years in infrastructure investment through the recently operationalised Infrastructure Fund. <\/p>\n
In a bid to secure funding for the Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, the President emphasised project preparation as a necessary tool to unlock private sector funding and high impact capital funding.<\/p>\n
According to the Global Infrastructure Hub, infrastructure project preparation costs in developing countries can range from 5 to 10% of the total project investment, with African governments covering most of these costs. <\/p>\n
This is compared to the 3 to 5% of project costs in developed countries, where project funds and facilities are willing to take the risks to fund projects. <\/p>\n
\u201cClearly, there needs to be more coordinated engagement between governments and the private sector and other players in the infrastructure financing space. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition to bolstering project preparation, we are working on introducing innovative project financing instruments such as green infrastructure bonds, project bonds and performance bonds,\u201d said the President. <\/p>\n
The recent establishment of ISA is also set to go a long way towards streamlining the preparation and implementation process. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a step towards creating an enabling environment for financiers and a one-stop shop where projects can be unlocked,\u201d said the President. <\/p>\n
Through ISA, government will invest in building state capacity in the areas of project technical and financial engineering skills. <\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the daunting challenges we face, the post COVID-19 reconstruction and recovery phase is alive with possibility. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor South Africa, it is an opportunity to establish ourselves as an investment destination of choice, with a ready and able workforce,\u201d said the President. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Cyril Ramaphosa has highlighted preparation – through the Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) project preparation roundtable – as the key to unlock South Africa\u2019s post COVID-19 economic recovery. \u201cThis roundtable is the beginning of a more dedicated and structured approach to project preparation. It paves the way for greater private sector participation in this crucial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-170910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170910\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}