South Africa's multibillion-rand public infrastructure programme, including those projects that would unlock key mineral resources and exports, were given strong emphasis by President Jacob Zuma in her State of the Nation address, delivered in Parliament on Thursday evening.
Effectively declaring 2012 all seasons of infrastructure delivery, Zuma used the occasion to unveil a list of five major geographically focused programmes, and a host of infrastructure initiatives built to support health and education, the upscaling of knowledge and communication technologies, or even accelerate regional integration.
Vehicles committed to convening a 'Presidential infrastructure summit' to talk about the implementation of your plan with potential investors and social partners.
The plan itself could well be overseen from the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC), which was sag mill established in September below the leadership of Zuma with the exceptional deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, and which also included Ministers, premiers as well as the metropolitan mayors.
"We make use of the project management expertise gained in the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup in making this project roaring success," Zuma said, highlighting the role those infrastructure projects took part in helping South Africa weather the end results of the 'Great Recession' of 2008 and 2009.
The projects prioritised with the PICC included those which would be implemented by State-owned companies (SoCs), for example Eskom and Transnet, and national, provincial and native government departments. "These are clustered, sequenced and prioritised into a pipeline of strategic integrated projects," obama said.
A lot of the priority projects were designed to improve the performance of South Africa's mining industry, which stood out among its global peer group as having did not capitalise about the precrisis commodities boom.
However, Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi lamented the truth that social infrastructure and or buses did not receive the same level of attention inside the address as did the business-supporting programmes. Regardless, the "general thrust" of prioritising infrastructure investment was positive, Vavi added.
In the transparent bid to reassert government's prevailing mining policy rotary kiln, which in fact have been brought into question using a nationalisation debate inside governing African National Congress, Zuma said government remained committed to the creation of "a favourable and globally competitive mining sector, and promote that is a to attract investment".
"The mining industry, one of several job drivers from the New Growth Path, plays a significant role in the socioeconomic development of america. As part of addressing the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment, government has changed a beneficiation strategy, which seeks to deliver opportunities while in the downstream part of the minerals sector."
The five geographically focused projects listed included:
A will develop and integrate rail, road and water infrastructure, centred around the Waterberg and Steelpoort sections of Limpopo, to unlock coal, platinum, palladium, chrome as well as other minerals, together with the stepped-up beneficiation of minerals.
Improving the movement of goods through the Durban-Free State-Gauteng logistics and industrial corridor by prioritising a variety of rail and port improvements, supported significantly by way of a R300-billion investment programme by Transnet within the coming seven years.
A new 'South Eastern node', while in the Eastern Cape, to bolster that province's industrial and agricultural development and export capacity. Initiatives within the node would include logistics linkages using the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, the building of a dam within the Umzimvubu river to back up farming and also the Mthatha revitalisation project. It'd also embrace a new 16-million-ton-a-year manganese export channel from the Port of Ngqura.
An initiative to be expanded the roll-out water, roads, rail and electricity infrastructure in the North West, such as the upgrade of ten priority roads.
A selection of projects around the West Coast, like the expansion of the Sishen-Saldanha iron-ore corridor to above 80-million tons.
Zuma also unveiled offers reduce port charges for exporters of manufactured goods by R1-billion and called on Eskom to figure out ways to moderate South Africa's fast-rising power-price path.
"I have asked Eskom to look for options on the way the price increase requirement can be reduced in the next few years, to get economic growth and job creation and give me proposals for consideration. We start to use an electricity price path that will ensure that Eskom as well as industry remain financially viable and sustainable, but which remains affordable designed for the poor," Zuma said.
Speaking to e-TV after the speech, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said research on approaches to moderate the price path could be presented to obama within one month.
The emphasis directed at infrastructure would have found broad-based support within business. But scepticism remained about the ability of government departments, as well as the SoCs, to implement their programmes.
Inside a joint industry statement released earlier, the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors and Consulting Engineers Nigeria said these folks were "appalled" by the recent admission by government that municipalities had underspent R12.4-billion reserve for municipal infrastructure projects.
Business Unity South Africa (Busa) underlined the point by stating that "2012 must be 12 months of game change for implementation". Busa added that there was a should accelerate the implementation of policies and programmes that are agreed and funded.
These concerns were echoed by Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille who said the main focus on infrastructure-led growth would not be faulted. But she said it failed to provide an honest assessment of why 'grand plans' continually failed in implementation - an inability which she place down to red tape, corruption and cadre deployment.
Standard Bank's chief economist Goolam Ballim declared that, in light of serious external and domestic economic headwinds, concerted efforts was required to raise public sector investment to levels where South Africa once again began sustaining the absolute minimum yearly investment rate of 25% of gdp (GDP).
The multiplier effect, he stated, would be significant not just in buttressing long-term growth in the context of otherwise low growth levels, slowing household spending and rising inflation, but in addition in creating the stipulations for the private sector to start with raising his or her levels of investment.
For the 25% levels, the State's cumulative investment programme personal computer than R1.5-trillion on the three-year cycle, which Ballim said could seriously help underpin GDP growth rates of 4%.
Effectively declaring 2012 all seasons of infrastructure delivery, Zuma used the occasion to unveil a list of five major geographically focused programmes, and a host of infrastructure initiatives built to support health and education, the upscaling of knowledge and communication technologies, or even accelerate regional integration.
Vehicles committed to convening a 'Presidential infrastructure summit' to talk about the implementation of your plan with potential investors and social partners.
The plan itself could well be overseen from the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC), which was sag mill established in September below the leadership of Zuma with the exceptional deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, and which also included Ministers, premiers as well as the metropolitan mayors.
"We make use of the project management expertise gained in the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup in making this project roaring success," Zuma said, highlighting the role those infrastructure projects took part in helping South Africa weather the end results of the 'Great Recession' of 2008 and 2009.
The projects prioritised with the PICC included those which would be implemented by State-owned companies (SoCs), for example Eskom and Transnet, and national, provincial and native government departments. "These are clustered, sequenced and prioritised into a pipeline of strategic integrated projects," obama said.
A lot of the priority projects were designed to improve the performance of South Africa's mining industry, which stood out among its global peer group as having did not capitalise about the precrisis commodities boom.
However, Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi lamented the truth that social infrastructure and or buses did not receive the same level of attention inside the address as did the business-supporting programmes. Regardless, the "general thrust" of prioritising infrastructure investment was positive, Vavi added.
In the transparent bid to reassert government's prevailing mining policy rotary kiln, which in fact have been brought into question using a nationalisation debate inside governing African National Congress, Zuma said government remained committed to the creation of "a favourable and globally competitive mining sector, and promote that is a to attract investment".
"The mining industry, one of several job drivers from the New Growth Path, plays a significant role in the socioeconomic development of america. As part of addressing the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment, government has changed a beneficiation strategy, which seeks to deliver opportunities while in the downstream part of the minerals sector."
The five geographically focused projects listed included:
A will develop and integrate rail, road and water infrastructure, centred around the Waterberg and Steelpoort sections of Limpopo, to unlock coal, platinum, palladium, chrome as well as other minerals, together with the stepped-up beneficiation of minerals.
Improving the movement of goods through the Durban-Free State-Gauteng logistics and industrial corridor by prioritising a variety of rail and port improvements, supported significantly by way of a R300-billion investment programme by Transnet within the coming seven years.
A new 'South Eastern node', while in the Eastern Cape, to bolster that province's industrial and agricultural development and export capacity. Initiatives within the node would include logistics linkages using the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, the building of a dam within the Umzimvubu river to back up farming and also the Mthatha revitalisation project. It'd also embrace a new 16-million-ton-a-year manganese export channel from the Port of Ngqura.
An initiative to be expanded the roll-out water, roads, rail and electricity infrastructure in the North West, such as the upgrade of ten priority roads.
A selection of projects around the West Coast, like the expansion of the Sishen-Saldanha iron-ore corridor to above 80-million tons.
Zuma also unveiled offers reduce port charges for exporters of manufactured goods by R1-billion and called on Eskom to figure out ways to moderate South Africa's fast-rising power-price path.
"I have asked Eskom to look for options on the way the price increase requirement can be reduced in the next few years, to get economic growth and job creation and give me proposals for consideration. We start to use an electricity price path that will ensure that Eskom as well as industry remain financially viable and sustainable, but which remains affordable designed for the poor," Zuma said.
Speaking to e-TV after the speech, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said research on approaches to moderate the price path could be presented to obama within one month.
The emphasis directed at infrastructure would have found broad-based support within business. But scepticism remained about the ability of government departments, as well as the SoCs, to implement their programmes.
Inside a joint industry statement released earlier, the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors and Consulting Engineers Nigeria said these folks were "appalled" by the recent admission by government that municipalities had underspent R12.4-billion reserve for municipal infrastructure projects.
Business Unity South Africa (Busa) underlined the point by stating that "2012 must be 12 months of game change for implementation". Busa added that there was a should accelerate the implementation of policies and programmes that are agreed and funded.
These concerns were echoed by Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille who said the main focus on infrastructure-led growth would not be faulted. But she said it failed to provide an honest assessment of why 'grand plans' continually failed in implementation - an inability which she place down to red tape, corruption and cadre deployment.
Standard Bank's chief economist Goolam Ballim declared that, in light of serious external and domestic economic headwinds, concerted efforts was required to raise public sector investment to levels where South Africa once again began sustaining the absolute minimum yearly investment rate of 25% of gdp (GDP).
The multiplier effect, he stated, would be significant not just in buttressing long-term growth in the context of otherwise low growth levels, slowing household spending and rising inflation, but in addition in creating the stipulations for the private sector to start with raising his or her levels of investment.
For the 25% levels, the State's cumulative investment programme personal computer than R1.5-trillion on the three-year cycle, which Ballim said could seriously help underpin GDP growth rates of 4%.
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