THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Challenges, opportunities and practical implementation The president has made an audacious undertaking in placing infrastructure at the centre of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. By Gundo Maswime*
T
he Economic Reconstruction and Recover y Plan will involve a deliberate removal of regulator y barriers that increase costs and create delays and inefficiencies in infrastructure delivery. This intervention should, according to the plan, unlock private sector investment and enable massive infrastructure roll-out with a strong localisation drive. The plan was announced with impressive detail and follows on the
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IMIESA November/December 2020
back of an unprecedented infrastructure investment summit and a launch of an infrastructure development fund based at the Development Bank of Southern Africa. Over the last six months, Dr Kgosientso Ramokgopa, head of the Infrastructure Investment Office in the Presidency, has graced more than 30 virtual interactions with various stakeholders on the sharpened vision the state has for the development of the construction sector. On each
platform, the theme is succinct, and the message consistent: • The government will make it easy for the public sector to raise money from the private sector and is thus calling all private sector players to the table. • The government is calling on all municipalities to be more coordinated and deliberate in their infrastructure plans within their regions to optimise the impact of the projects.
