Civil Engineering January-February 2022 | Vol 30 No 1

I ndustry perspec t i ve J ust over a year ago, the government’s Reconstruction and Recovery Plan identified infrastructure develop- ment as a key generator of poverty alleviation, job creation and economic growth. In a similar timeframe, exacer- bated by the pandemic, investment in South African infrastructure fell from an already dismal 18% in 2019/20 to just 14% in 2020/21, compared to the 30% ‘bench- mark’ of our emerging market peers. A step in the right direction, the establishment of the Investment and Infrastructure Office (IIO) aims to improve collaboration between all in- dustry stakeholders such as development and commercial banks and financiers, as well as the private sector. Chaired by the President and supported by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, it provides a coordinated approach to speed up the planning, im- plementation and delivery of the country’s infrastructure projects. Conway Williams Head of Credit Prescient Investment Management Funding South Africa’s infrastructure spending gap: why it is crucial to crowd in the private sector Government is making critical headway in paving the way for private sector involvement in infrastructure investment, but there are outstanding factors that still need to be resolved if South Africa is to close its substantial infrastructure investment gap. 20 January/February 2022  Civil Engineering