Ministers say modernising and upgrading the country’s infrastructure will be costly but can no longer be delayed
CAPE TOWN — Modernising and upgrading SA’s creaking infrastructure would cost up to R1-trillion over the next four years, but could no longer be delayed.
That was the stark message from ministers in the Cabinet’s infrastructure development cluster to a media briefing in Parliament yesterday.
For a start, SA needed to invest a "staggering" R470bn in road and rail infrastructure, Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele said.
This is in addition to billions needed to address the backlogs in water, electricity, sanitation and other infrastructure.
Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel put the total annual expenditure on infrastructure over the next four years at R250bn a year, translating into R1-trillion for the period — an 18% increase on the state’s previous infrastructure spending estimate of about R846bn for the three years to 2013. read more