The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) has gazetted the draft National Infrastructure Plan 2050 (NIP 2050) for public comment.

The NIP 2050 was prepared by Infrastructure South Africa (ISA), working closely with sector specialists and other stakeholders, over a period of six months, the DPWI notes.

It highlights that infrastructure development is critical to attaining South Africa’s long-term economic and social goals and that the NIP 2050 will ensure that the foundations for achieving the National Development Plan (NDP) vision for inclusive growth are supported.

“The NIP 2050 offers a strategic vision and plan that links top NDP objectives to actionable steps and intermediate outcomes.

“The aim is to promote dynamism in infrastructure delivery and address institutional blockages and weaknesses that hinder success over the longer term. Additionally, the NIP 2050 will guide the way to building stronger institutions that can deliver on [the] infrastructure-related aspirations of the NDP,” the DPWI says.

Recommendations are made to accelerate progress towards its development objectives.

There is a focus on strengthening the performance of State-owned enterprises; sector-specific regulation; State capacity; and private participation in public infrastructure delivery and management.

The NIP 2050 is neither a database of all projects, a consolidation of master plans, a spatial mapping of projects nor a mechanism for centralised decision-making, the DPWI clarifies.

It says the NIP 2050 seeks to identify the most critical actions needed for sustained improvement in public infrastructure delivery that will have an impact in the short term but with the longer-term outcomes in view.

In this first iteration, the NIP 2050 will focus on the critical network infrastructure sectors of energy, freight transport, water and digital communications.

A second-round NIP 2050 will extend to distributed infrastructure and related municipal services.

The public have until September 17 to make written submissions.

A copy of the gazette is available at: http://www.publicworks.gov.za/PDFs/44951_10-8_PublicWorksInfras.pdf