( 4 minutes read)
· Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, head of the Investment and Infrastructure Office in the Presidency of South Africa said that the government is now in talks with pension fund managers for possible infrastructure investment in the country
· Most of the funds for the infrastructure development till date have been chipped in by the government
· But that the impact of Covid-19 had led to a situation that the government the expenditure was to be focused more on other fronts like healthcare
Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, head of the Investment and Infrastructure Office in the Presidency of South Africa said that the government is now in talks with pension fund managers for possible infrastructure investment in the country. Earlier, consultations were held with the private sector to evince their interests in such projects, which did not evoke much response.
He was speaking at the launch of the president’s infrastructure project preparation roundtable held on Tuesday 3 November. He revealed that the country’s pension funds are sitting on a ‘big pool of liquidity’ and are now beginning to explore investment in infrastructure as an additional asset class. The pension funds were not at the table in the earlier talks, when the government mainly focused on the private sector to invest in such projects. Now they have come forward and the government hopes to tap into that big pool of liquidity.
Most of the funds for the infrastructure development till date have been chipped in by the government. But the impact of Covid-19 had led to a situation that the government was to be focused more on other fronts like healthcare. At the same time, he said that to be able to get projects funded outside of the government’s balance sheet, the project needs to be sound and bankable. These infra projects form key components of president Cyril Ramaphosa’s recovery plan for South Africa, with infrastructure and development identified as key to the country’s turnaround and for employment generation.
The government is looking at creating 80000 new jobs from the infra sector alone. Till June 2020, the country had 276 ‘catalyst projects’ which would contribute over R340 billion in investments.
