Over the next period of 25 years, infrastructure investment in South Africa is forecast to be led by transport, resources and power, which together account for about sixty three percent of the nation’s infrastructure. This occurs when spending continues through to 2050, audit and assurance firm PWC’s ‘Global Infrastructure outlook 2025 -2050’ report showed.
Globally, PwC says, infrastructure is entering an unprecedented investment cycle, with yearly spending forecast to rise from $4.4-trillion in 2024 to $6.9-trillion in 2050. As countries modernise transport, power and industrial systems to meet the demands of AI, electrification and urbanisation, cumulative global investment is projected to reach $151.1-trillion over the period, the report indicates. The outlook suggests that global infrastructure spending over the next 25 years will be double that of the previous 20 years, before which comparable data is unavailable. “The scale of infrastructure investment needed over the next 25 years has the potential to take infrastructure beyond just an assemblage of roads, railway lines, pipes, power lines and concrete structures to a fundamentally transformed ecosystem: smarter, more resilient and interconnected across physical, digital, environmental and social systems.”
This was according to Jarendra Reddy PWC South Africa infrastructure Chief. South Africa is in a position to upgrade its decaying infrastructure to improve its economy. In Industrial matters new progress has to be accelerated to accommodate the rise of new technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Digitalization is accelerating across the world and South Africa must be among those countries riding the wave. Technology is evolving and investment from the private sector will be needed to make that fundamentally transformed ecosystem in infrastructure a reality. This means cooperation between the government and the private/industrial sector. This has a price: There can be no space for nationalizing the management of the mines or seizing farmland without compensation. Industrialization through private enterprise can generate jobs if the right education, equipment, infrastructure and technology is invested in.
Investment in sustainable and renewable energy is another pressing matter that has come to the fore front due to the impact of climate change. The University of Cape Town (UCT) have identified several priority areas the country must focus on over the next ten years to reduce global warming’s negative impacts. The most vulnerable will be the main victims of this catastrophe.
According to Dr Anna Taylor, a climate adaptation researcher at UCT’s African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI), the country currently faces several major climate-related risks. These include water scarcity, health threats (linked to shifting environmental factors), food insecurity, damage to infrastructure, biodiversity losses, and declining labour productivity. These risks, Dr Taylor explained, are directly attributed to global warming and extreme weather (heatwaves, heavy rains and droughts). To reduce the impact and potential damages, the country must use the next decade to focus its attention on adequately adapting to climate change.
Dr Taylor went on to say that it would cost roughly about R250 billion in investment to improve sustainable infrastructure across South Africa. Pretoria alongside the industrial sector must consider transitioning to solar, wind and possibly even hydrogen energy. The continued practice of burning coal, gas and oil for energy is destructive. The environment cannot sustain itself while humanity pollutes it with toxic chemicals and fossil fuels. South Africa is a major economy that is strategically placed to attract investment to the right infrastructure depending on where its interests are aligned. It depends on what the priorities of Pretoria are.
Article written by:
Yacoob Cassim
Journalist at Radio Al Ansaar
