5 minute read
INFRASTRUCTURE
STREET SMART
The CSIR Smart Places initiative is about smarter resource, infrastructure, and service environments directed towards enabling competitive production and sustainable economic growth.
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BY LLEWELLYN VAN WYK, B. ARCH; MSC. (APPLIED), URBAN ANALYST
Smart Places can exist as special economic zones, agri-parks and municipalities as well as the national linkages between them (as envisaged in the National Infrastructure Plan), and large areas such as prioritised in the Oceans Economy. A successful Smart Place will deliver significant service productivity and quality improvements and opportunities for the local economy thereby securing and enhancing the desirability of the place as an investment destination.
Six of the Industry 4.0 technologies are expected to have the greatest transformative impact on Smart Places, such as Artificial Intelligence that assists with the management of resources, environmental impact and compliance, and the Internet of Things – networks of low-cost sensors for data collection, monitoring and decision-making ensuring superior connected resources monitoring and enabling services. INDUSTRY IMPORTANCE
Well-functioning infrastructure and an efficient built environment are crucial to socio-economic development and poverty alleviation. Smart Places are important as they act as a proven enabler that allows industries to have wider economic impact and reach.
The Manufacturing Circle, in collaboration with the dti (now dtic) and other industry associations prioritised a number of interventions to stimulate GDP growth and create jobs: “Many manufacturers face concerns relating to the availability of technical and industry-specific skills, slow productivity growth, high input costs, the variable local availability of certain inputs, lack of investment, high electricity costs, poor infrastructure and heavy regulatory burdens. These all reduce the competitiveness of many firms in the sector.”
Interventions proposed include measures to reduce input cost for manufacturers; options to invest in catalytic infrastructure projects, such as a new pipeline to bring natural gas from Mozambique into South Africa, using South African steel and pipe, to lower the cost of natural gas; and supporting municipalities with the capacity to deliver and maintain infrastructure, as these are in the first line of service delivery.
While infrastructure alone will not lead directly to best-in-class manufacturing, steadily decaying infrastructure will negatively impact a nation’s manufacturing competitiveness and create serious obstacles for related supply chain networks (WEF 2018). This challenge needs to be urgently addressed to ensure sustainable growth in the future.
Climate change and resource use trade-offs are also impacting on industrial activity in South Africa. From this perspective, the two priorities are to create sustainable economic opportunities derived from the country’s natural resource endowment and to reduce the risk of misinformed decisions on natural resource and environment-related issues. Smart Places impact on industries that are resource intensive and that produce physical goods, such as mining, agriculture and manufacturing.
The Diagnostic Report
The NPC initiated a diagnostic analysis to identify and examine key challenges and obstacles that impact the socioeconomic development of South Africa. The deliberations were compiled into a report, now known as the Diagnostic Report.
NEGATIVE NODES
The National Development Plan, the Diagnostic Report and SAICE Infrastructure Report Card 2017 found that complications with South African infrastructure exist in the areas of health, water and sanitation, as well as secondary and tertiary roads. These problems are due to several factors, including insufficient funding for infrastructure assets, a shortage of skilled resources and a lack of appropriate technological solutions for planning, materials, design, construction and maintenance.
The Dube TradePort SEZ is known as Africa’s global manufacturing and air logistics platform.
A 3D vision of Dube City at the SEZ. An artist’s impression of the industry area at the Musina-Makhado SEZ in Limpopo.
The agri-zone at the Dube TradePort SEZ.
Resources
- Availability of resources for climate change and land use - Resource use conflicts and trade-offs - Finite skills and infrastructure to be used sustainably
Hard infrastructure
- Inadequate ICT and specialised analytics in Africa - Unreliability and cost of infrastructure hinders industrialisation - Quality of the infrastructure and the challenge of maintenance - Ageing infrastructure non-performance - New infrastructure backlogs
Soft infrastructure
- Limited capacity for infrastructural optimisation and maintenance - Policy restrictions hinder implementation of Smart Places - Stakeholder support is obstructed by high costs
Services/utilities
- Environmental factors affect industries, communities and workers - Incapable logistic processes - High cost of services - Municipalities are not fully functional
EMERGING TRENDS
Several trends have emerged globally that make places more attractive for conducting business. The response to these trends is location specific: - Technology improves socio-economic well-being and transforms public services - Circular economies that support a regenerative system where waste is minimised through operational and technological advancements - Greater management of scarce resources - Smarter infrastructure developments
Resources
- Technology and smarter ways of doing business - Green technology and materials
Hard infrastructure
- Smarter resource, infrastructure and service developments - Micro-grids for energy, water and other utilities - Connected infrastructure to ensure innovation and efficiencies - Transforming Africa’s infrastructure landscape - Advanced building technologies - Smart materials
Soft infrastructure
- Connected institutions leveraging each other’s data - Community-owned and operated utilities (micro-grids) - Flat organisational structures - Human capital development
Services/utilities
- Real-time remote monitoring and decision support - Automation of maintenance The Smart Places value chain consists of the resources (input resources and natural environment); connected with infrastructures (built environment); and delivered as associated services (utilities).
Strategic response across the value chain
- Leverage ICT infrastructure to catalyse Industry 4.0 - Allow access to resources that enhance economic development - Introduce new long-term industries that enable skilled job creation and stimulate economic growth - Enhance circular economies and green technology to support sustainable resource utilisation and local economic growth - Focus on sustainable solutions that connect industries to improve efficiencies and infrastructure performance
Figure 1: Generic resource and built environment value chain
FORETOLD FUTURE
A successful Smart Place delivers significant service productivity and quality improvements as well as opportunities for the local economy thereby securing and enhancing the desirability of the place as an investment destination. It has enough available water, energy and land available to achieve aspirational industrial growth.
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REFERENCES
1 Manufacturing Circle, “Map-to-a-Million: Map to a million new jobs in a decade”, 2017. 2 Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission, National Infrastructure Plan, 2012. 3 the dti, Industrial Policy Action Plan 2018/19 – 2020/21, 2018. 4 World Economic Forum, Readiness for the Future of Production Report 2018, 2018.
