North West Premier, Bushy Maape, says in his maiden State of the Province Address (Sopa) that NWK recently concluded an agreement with the North West Department of Public Works whereby the agricultural business will assist with the maintenance of certain gravel roads in the province. This agreement with NWK is being replicated in the Bojanala Platinum District as well.

According to Maape, several mining giants have agreed to provide engineering expertise and project management skills to expedite the expansion of the Brits Water Treatment Works falling under the Madibeng Local Municipality. The project has reportedly been delayed by several years.

Infrastructure appears to be high up on the North West Provincial Government’s agenda for the next few years, with them setting aside R14 billion on infrastructure during the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) of 2022/23 and 2023/24. The money will be divided amongst the construction and maintenance of new schools, rehabilitation of health facilities, and the improvement of worsening road conditions.

“The performance and the capacity of provincial departments and state-owned entities to deliver on the infrastructure mandate has not been good, if not unsatisfactory. The underspending of infrastructure expenditure, and loss of conditional grant allocations to the National Revenue Fund, are to be addressed as a matter of urgency. We will revive the Premier’s Infrastructure Coordinating Committee to assess the readiness of projects to be implemented in the 2022/23 financial year,” says Maape.

Overall, the South African government intends on investing R1.8 billion in bulk infrastructure – under the Infrastructure Fund - which President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last week will unlock seven private sector projects to the value of R133 billion. Both Ramaphosa and Maape emphasise the importance of infrastructure in the economy of the country and the province.

OFM News/Olebogeng Motse and Olefile Vilakazi