Infrastructure

Infrastructure Overview

While most of the world's national economies are temporarily 'on hold', South Africa's policy is to spend, spend, and spend again on rebuilding its infrastructure. The only limit are - not funds - but the capacity to manage projects properly - and provide electrical power.

Despite these limitations, the rate of public spending on infrastructure is expected to increase all through 2008 and 2009 to an average of nearly R20 billion a month. Expenditure used to be measured in mere millions per annum.

The public splurge was mirrored, until early in 2008, in unprecedented plans for private investment in South Africa. However, the 'shock' caused by lack of electricity - a critical shortage suddenly revealed by the parastatal Eskom - threatens temporary and partial paralysis in the growth of heavy industry

Energy

Electrical power
Until quite recently, Eskom, the nation's electricity supply parastatal, boasted not only the world's cheapest supply of electricity, but also sufficient surplus power to feed the rest of the sub-continent.

Other refineries
Growing demand has increased petrol imports till they now make up 15 percent of national consumption. There has been insufficient investment in local oil refineries by the multinational oil companies operating here, and there has been insufficient development of oil pipelines