Infrastructure spending stalls in SA

Investment in South Africa’s infrastructure has stalled, while countries in the rest of Africa are beginning to rebuild their logistics and other systems, according to construction group Aveng CEO Roger Jardine. Presenting the group’s annual results in Gauteng recently, he said one of the challenges facing the group was the “slow speed of infrastructure spend in South Africa.” This despite South African ministers saying in February that R1 trillion needed to be invested over the next four years in order to modernise the country’s infrastructure – and that it could no longer be delayed. However, according to the National Planning Commission of SA, public sector infrastructure spending has declined by 30% since 2008. Aveng, according to Jardine, is now looking to “significant opportunities in Africa,” with a focus on rail. The company would “strengthen and expand” its rail products and services in Africa, Australia and the Middle East. Local opportunities include “continued maintenance work on Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR) network”. The company is not, however, banking on the South African government making the necessary infrastructural investments over the next two years. “We anticipate a larger contribution to group profit from our Australasian operations while we experience limited public infrastructure spend in South Africa,” he said.