De Lille said gazetting 50 infrastructure projects and 12 special projects on Friday would remove stumbling blocks that had in the past hindered the implementation of major infrastructure projects and led to unspent allocations.

"The process of gazetting the first infrastructure projects, as contained in SA’s Infrastructure Investment Plan, will prioritise implementation and facilitate the unblocking of the mechanisms, whether technical, financial, legal or administrative that have hindered infrastructure delivery for so long as it utilises the mechanisms available in the Infrastructure Development Act," she said.

"Now that these projects have been gazetted... this enables its development and implementation to be prioritised."

The projects were gazetted as strategic integrated projects and span the water, energy, transport and housing sectors.

The approved water and sanitation projects are worth R106 billion in investment, and will span all nine provinces.

The projects include constructing phase two of the Mokolo Crocodile Water Augmentation Project (MCWAP-2A) in Limpopo, which will increase water supply in the Lephalale region.

The water will also be used as a supplementary source for the Medupi and Matimba power stations, which will also help to meet the growing demand for water in the Lephalale municipality.

De Lille said three projects in the energy sector have a total investment value of R58 billion and the potential to create 6,000 jobs.

Fifteen projects in the transport sector are collectively worth R47 billion and could create 50,000 direct jobs. The projects destined for the human settlements sector are worth R138 billion worth and could create another 190,000 direct jobs.

In the digital sector, De Lille gazetted one project only. It entails creating, at a cost of R4 billion, the space infrastructure Hub for National Development that will allow for the development of satellite infrastructure, satellite-based augmentation systems and earth observation satellites.

"Domestic access to this type of infrastructure will reduce South Africa’s reliance on other countries for the type of information that these satellites can make available and is expected to reduce the time frames for collecting necessary data."

Agriculture and agro-processing sector projects worth R7 billion in investment value were gazetted and the potential to create an estimated 4,000 jobs.

Twelve special projects are designed to create jobs and develop skills in the poor communities particularly hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

These include the  Rural Bridges “Welisizwe” Programme and the Rural Roads Upgrade Programme, both aimed at making communities safer, improving living conditions and creating jobs.

The statement from the minister comes on the eve of the inaugural meeting of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC) council on Tuesday.

De Lille said the secretariat of the PICC met on Sunday and approved the establishment of a single steering committee for special infrastructure projects that will streamline their rollout.

"[It] will ensure that all approvals, authorisations, licences, permissions and exemptions are expedited within shortened, concurrent time frames," the minister said.

African News Agency