DBSA: African Journal of Infrastructure Development

EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE WATER SERVICES

Mike Muller — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

South African efforts to channel increased financial flows to support the provision of sustainable water supply and sanitation services have enjoyed limited success and the quality of service provision is declining. This paper identifies critical obstacles to performance improvement and suggests potential pathways to overcome them. Current obstacles include a failure to balance infrastructure investment with O&M (operations and maintenance) resources or to ring-fence water-related financial flows at municipal level; institutional deficiencies which weaken oversight and limit intervention where systems fail; and inappropriate norms and standards for service provision coupled with unrealistic user expectations, which are often encouraged by weak political leadership. Potential reform interventions that are feasible within current Constitutional arrangements are described and the constraints on their implementation
are outlined, together with strategic suggestions on how these may be overcome. In most cases, substantial policy innovation will be required, backed by institutional reform.

IMPACT OF TARGETED INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AND EMPLOYMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

Nonhlanhla MSIMANGO, Carla ORFFER, Natalie VAN REENEN — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Infrastructure investment is key to stimulating economic growth, increasing employment, and reducing inequality. Increasing both private and public sector investment has been a strategy taken by several countries to stimulate economic recovery in the post-lockdown era. To realise the National Development Plan (NDP) investment goals, South Africa is advancing infrastructure investment as an avenue
through which long-term economic and social goals can be obtained. This paper empirically assesses the impact of infrastructure investment on economic growth and employment. Specifically, this paper investigates the potential impact of the remaining infrastructure investment allocation in the R100 billion Infrastructure Fund. Scenarios are created in which the share of investment made towards several sectors is adjusted to determine which distribution of investment could yield the greatest impact. From the results, it can be concluded that infrastructure investment can stimulate both economic growth and employment creation, with the largest gains expected in the secondary sector. The greatest impact on gross domestic product (GDP) and employment is achieved when the bulk of the investment is allocated towards utilities, including electricity and water infrastructure. The paper provides empirical evidence to motivate for targeted infrastructure investment directed at sectors which yield the greatest impact on economic growth and employment

DEVELOPING A MODEL TO PRIORITISE INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AT THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL IN SOUTH AFRIC

Makota Madisha — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The ability to respond to ever-changing demands for urban management and human settlement services depends on the governments’ sustainable infrastructure development, especially at the municipal level. Spatial planning frameworks in local government play a crucial role in guiding the provision of infrastructure development projects. However, in South Africa, most municipalities need help to invest in finance capital infrastructure development projects, and manage, maintain, and capitalise infrastructure assets under construction. Thus, this study aims? to develop a model to prioritise and coordinate infrastructure development projects and asset management at the municipal level in South Africa. The study adopted a qualitative approach to collect data and used content analysis to achieve saturation with ten participants. The sample comprised five City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality departments. Findings reveal that infrastructure provision at the municipal level is germane to improving and achieving many SDGs and promoting economic growth that empowers communities to reach their goals. As part of the implications, a model was developed to enhance prioritising and coordinating infrastructure development projects and asset management at the municipal level in South Africa.

LEVERAGING PARTNERSHIPS AND MACROECONOMIC POLICY FOR INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA- A REVIEW APPROACH

Karen Bahle Gumbo — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The African continent faces many economic development challenges, and infrastructure plays a vital role in accelerating and breaking barriers to economic advancement. With a limited fiscal budget allocation by governments towards infrastructure development, the success and failure of public infrastructure investment are also dependent on policies and public-private partnerships, among others. Through a literature review on leveraging partnerships, this study addresses the impact of leveraging partnerships in the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) ecosystem. These lucrative partnerships can unlock pipeline development for South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. The study’s findings include the challenges to infrastructure delivery, which are governance structures, National Development Plans, mandates and capacity building, as well as fiscal budgets, which are not able to singlehandedly fund capital-intensive projects/programmes in the absence of strategic partners to provide financing solutions. Therefore, the study concludes that if development financing partnerships are well established, value creation will be realised, and benefits can be yielded for all stakeholders involved. Finally, the study recommends a consolidated framework that allows for clear guidelines for partnerships with monitoring and evaluation of investments for impact.

A CRITICAL VIEW OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTRUCTION SECTOR POST-COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

Masedi Sesele — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic had numerous detrimental impacts on the construction sector, including but not limited to job losses to construction employees, revenue losses to stakeholders in the industry, as well as supply chain disruptions. Several construction firms had to shut down operations owing to the impact of the financial losses incurred during the lockdown, while the few that are still in operation have had to review their modus operandi to comply with COVID-19 regulations. While the pandemic has negatively impacted the industry, the effect has also necessitated the need for innovations across the construction sector. This opinion paper presents a
critical analysis of the pandemic and also analyses the several disruptive technologies that emerged as one of the strategies to retain productivity within the sector while also serving the mitigation purpose of curbing the spread of the virus. Other gains of the pandemic include increased government infrastructural investment, private sector participation, government transparency, and effective policy implementation, which have been established to be key drivers of swift and systemic economic recovery post-COVID-19 and are integral in creating jobs in the construction industry. Lessons from the pandemic can also be harnessed for more efficient project delivery and expenditure planning through cautious incorporation into ongoing and future infrastructural projects.

A REVIEW OF HOW MUNICIPAL INFRASTRUCTURE DELIVERY MANAGEMENT FLAWS HAMSTRING GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

Eddie Rakabe, Ramos Mabugu — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Planning, budgeting, coordinating, managing the lifetime of a project, evaluating it, being transparent and accountable, and adhering to rules on the public availability of infrastructure services are all part of infrastructure delivery management. However, there is a declining local government infrastructure budget in South Africa. Hence, this study evaluates local governments' management and infrastructure delivery chain to pinpoint the obstacles preventing the creation of an efficient, sustainable, and successful infrastructure delivery program through a review approach. The study’s findings reveal the institutional and regulatory framework for infrastructure delivery, infrastructure delivery chain, municipal infrastructure delivery performance, and local government infrastructure delivery challenges, such as poorly managed consultations, weak multi-government coordination, political-administrative interface, and monitoring and evaluation. The study concludes that municipal infrastructure has no proper planning or life-cycle management. Therefore, the study recommends a stronger focus on peer learning across municipalities and the complete life-cycle management of municipal infrastructure rather than introducing new infrastructure. The secret to sustainable infrastructure delivery management is to plan for appropriate infrastructure that adapts to local conditions, maintains existing infrastructure, and renovates infrastructure that has outlived its intended use.