Johannesburg - South Africa’s deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has told potential investors - at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali - that positive returns on investment “are almost guaranteed in the infrastructure and ICT sectors South Africa and Africa more broadly”.
Ramaphosa made his remarks on Thursday during a session on how innovative partnerships can bridge financing gaps for economic and social infrastructure.
Ramaphosa is leading Team South Africa - comprising several ministers and business leaders - at 2016 WEF Africa, where deliberations are taking place under the theme “Connecting Africa’s Resources Through Digital Transformation”.
Team South Africa’s message to WEF Africa delegates is that South Africa is open for business and that the country’s macro-economic environment is resilient.
In a statement late on Thursday, the SA Presidency said Ramaphosa told a WEF Africa session on infrastructure development that “infrastructure has been a key economic driver in South Africa and in the region”.
The deputy president said that in South Africa, the co-ordination of infrastructure development through the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission had “paid great dividends”.
“Investment in infrastructure has stimulated economic activity; therefore there are returns to be made for investors in infrastructure in South Africa and Africa,” said Ramaphosa.
“Infrastructure is better done when approached at a regional level, because our countries are inter-linked through the movement of people and trade.”
Ramaphosa said South Africa had found innovative ways of partnering with the private sector, especially in energy, and that this had opened new opportunities for private sector investment.
He also encouraged investment in connectivity through technology and digital solutions and said this should be a priority for African economies.
On Friday, Ramaphosa will participate in a high-level breakfast on the Internet For All initiative, which aims to develop new scalable and replicable models of public-private collaboration to accelerate Internet access globally.
In this session, heads of state and leaders from multilateral organisations and business will discuss the progress of the first country pilot programme in the Northern Corridor and deliberate the next steps.
The WEF Africa summit concludes on Friday.
ANA