Johannesburg - Investments by
state-owned companies into South Africa's economy are keeping the
country going, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba said on
Monday.
"The fact is that state-owned
companies’ investments are what is keeping the South African
economy going at the present moment as private sector investments
have shrunk," he said in a speech prepared for delivery at the
inaugural South Africa-United States business summit in Johannesburg.
Gigaba said state-owned companies,
including Eskom and Transnet, had started to implement new plans to
develop the country's infrastructure.
"We have begun to witness
state-owned companies embarking on long-term-planning and moving
beyond their balance sheets to invest in game-changing projects.
"Should we implement the capital
investment we have identified and approved, I believe South Africa’s
economic landscape will have been significantly transformed in the
(next) eight years."
He said Transnet had expanded its
capital expenditure budget from R110bn over five years to over R300bn
over seven years.
Eskom was projected to spend over
R330bn in the next five years.
"We are doing a lot more than just
stimulating demand... (we) are driving programmes that will put in
place the infrastructure, skills and the industrial and technological
capacity to drive our future economy."
The implementation of the projects
would require co-ordination between the different state-owned
companies, government departments, and the private sector.
The projects, which were spearheaded by
President Jacob Zuma through the presidential infrastructure
co-ordinating commission, would focus on the country's roads,
railways, electricity supply, information and communication
technology, and dams.
"The strategic, integrated
projects identified by the commission will change South Africa's
apartheid spatial patterns and redirect capital investments to areas
hitherto neglected... (and create) the possibility for domestic and
regional trade by, among others, promoting regional economic
integration," Gigaba said.
He said his department would establish
a dedicated office to monitor and provide support to the roll-out of
the infrastructure projects.
He called on the US to invest in the
South Africa.
"We would like to work with you to
make direct investments into the South African economy and to develop
South African companies to become part of your global supply chains,"
Gigaba said.
"We do not want you only to buy
from South African companies for the South African market, we want to
see these companies exporting into the regional and global market
through your supply chain."
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