Infrastructure development is crucial for South Africa to realise economic growth. In turn, proper procurement processes are needed to ensure projects are executed sustainably, speakers highlighted during industry body Consulting Engineers South Africa’s (Cesa’s) Infrastructure Indaba, being held this week in Fourways.

During a session on March 18, titled 'Procurement Strategies and Delivery Models: Opportunity for industry and economic growth', Absa Group senior subject matter expert Letlhogonolo Mputle emphasised the importance of infrastructure for the country’s economic development, noting that the current situation was underwhelming.

She explained that infrastructure investment in the country was currently about 15% of GDP, which is lower than the minimum about 30% required to engender economic growth.

Mputle said infrastructure investment had the potential to unlock growth on the continent, evidenced through Absa’s funding of projects in the region. The financial services provider has the capacity to finance more projects, provided they meet certain criteria.

Development Bank of Southern Africa infrastructure delivery division group executive Chuene Ramphele, meanwhile, posited that there needed to be private-sector participation to scale up infrastructure investment to the required level, with the country grappling with under investment, and this requiring innovative solutions.

He said the key questions that must be asked included whether infrastructure delivery should depend solely on budget allocations, or if there were alternatives; and what government was required to do to accelerate the pace of development and delivery for social and blended finance infrastructure.

Ramphele also said that Cesa members must explore if there were opportunities for them in areas such as the greater use of concessional funding at a sovereign level, linked specifically to infrastructure, and public-private partnerships with the infrastructure fund.

Auditor-General South Africa deputy business unit leader Tintswalo Masia, meanwhile, touched on the entity’s audits of infrastructure projects in the country during the 2023/24 period, with the aim of assessing if proper infrastructure development was being undertaken, creating jobs and opportunities for citizens.

Of the 143 projects audited across the country, in some key public entities, across various industries, 86% of these had findings, with similar issues noted as in previous audits, including poor maintenance, projects delays, poor quality construction work, and projects not being used after completion, Masia outlined.

She said the causes of this included inadequate monitoring of infrastructure projects, limited accountability for nonperformance, a lack of integration, procurement processes not being tight enough to ensure the correct due diligence and correct skills, and inadequate enforcement.

Also, in another analysis of 75 projects, 28 were found to have had ssues from a procurement perspective, she indicated, with the study focused on functionality.

Masia said that there were instances where functionality was not used at all.

There were, however, some positives, with three projects audited for the South African National Roads Agency having been completed on time and budget and meeting quality standards.

FIDIC Credentialing board member Dr Ron Watermeyer underscored the importance of proper procurement, calling for professionalisation of infrastructure procurement, with previous speakers noting this to be lacking. He cited credentialing as a means of professionalising.

Watermeyer said that this professionalisation must be prioritised in the public sector, as it was in the private sector.

He emphasised the importance of procurement as part of project management.