This was revealed during the Extended Premier’s Coordinating Council meeting held last week at Season’s Wedding and Conference Centre. 

The session brought together key stakeholders, including North West Premier Lazarus Mokgosi, MECs, municipal officials, and representatives from ISA, to reflect on the province’s infrastructure challenges and how to overcome them.

Mokgosi had previously acknowledged that the province’s predominantly rural character remains a significant barrier to infrastructure development. 

This is after stating that over 60% of the population lives in rural areas, noting that this demographic reality limits the province’s capacity to implement large infrastructure projects, especially when compared to more urbanised and developed provinces like Gauteng and the Western Cape.

The premier confirmed that none of the projects submitted by the provincial government for funding had been successful. He cited several key reasons behind the rejections, starting with the scale of the proposals.

Key reasons behind rejections

“All projects that the province had applied for and submitted funding applications for have not succeeded due to several issues, including that the project must be at least over R1 billion,” said Mokgosi. “Most of the proposals submitted for their projects to be funded are not at that level.”

He further said that many of the projects relied solely on government grants, with limited scope for private sector involvement, a major shortfall under ISA’s funding criteria.

“Secondly, they showed us that when you submit a project for ISA to fund, it should also have an element of being able to be financed either by banks, or you can draw private investors into your project. Some of the projects were reliant on grants allocated by the National Treasury. So we said that it's an element that we need to look into,” Mokgosi added.

Acting Head of ISA, Mametse Masemola, provided further insight into the agency’s approach. Established by the Cabinet in 2020, ISA is tasked with identifying and packaging infrastructure projects that can secure both public and private funding.

“Our main job is to identify and package projects that require funding so that when they go into the market, they can attract investments and funding from National Treasury and other sources outside of the fiscus,” said Masemola.

Efforts will focus on five catalytic projects

She acknowledged the challenges faced by the North West government but confirmed that ISA is working closely with the province to turn things around. “We have been working with the North West provincial government to identify high-level infrastructure projects to be prepared and packaged to attract funding,” she said.

According to Masemola, an agreement was reached during the meeting to focus efforts on five catalytic projects. These projects are expected to drive economic growth, unlock infrastructure services, and position the province for future investment.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi cg