Thought leadership organisation, the Construction Management Foundation, has noted the announcement by the Presidency that it will host an inaugural Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium on June 23.

This symposium will unveil an infrastructure project pipeline in six priority sectors.

Moreover, the Presidency, led by Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, hosted a market sounding exercise between May 28 and 29 in the form of pitching sessions.

This organisation noted that these sessions gave major infrastructure project sponsors an audience, from national and international funding institutions, that included multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, asset managers and commercial banks, to present projects that have been identified as potentially bankable and those that require project preparation funding.

The foundation welcomes this move, saying it reinforces its call for an infrastructure- and construction-led economic recovery from Covid-19.

“The creation of de-risked and reliable pipeline of bankable projects is exactly what the South African construction industry needs to boost market confidence and further allow construction firms to invest in skills and capacity to play a role in the delivery of these infrastructure projects,” emphasises Construction Management Foundation CEO Ronnie Siphika.

In the context of constrained public finances, the organisation’s view has been that government should make use of public-private partnerships to design, finance, build and operate public infrastructure.

It highlights that this has numerous benefits that could help advance socioeconomic transformation in South Africa.

“The Gautrain project is exemplary of what this approach can achieve. It is therefore encouraging that government has made progress in developing capabilities to prepare, procure, and manage such projects,” says Siphika.

The R635-million advanced to set up the R100-billion Infrastructure Fund managed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa demonstrates that there have been tangible investments to this regard, says the organisation.

“We are however concerned by the lack of transparency from the Development Bank of Southern Africa on the progress it has made since this initiative was announced in the 2018 Budget Speech,” notes Siphika.