Ramaphosa says South Africa’s R264 billion construction site is coming
South Africa’s pipeline of infrastructure projects has grown five-fold since the beginning of the decade, with more than R264 billion of work expected to enter procurement over the next 12 to 18 months, President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
The government’s so-called Strategic Integrated Projects portfolio has grown to R1.67 trillion from about R340 billion in 2020, Ramaphosa said at the third Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium in Cape Town on Tuesday.
The projects span water and sanitation, transport and logistics, energy and electricity and municipal infrastructure.
The government will also begin publishing quarterly performance reports on the projects to track their progress, the president said.
Ramaphosa is seeking to turn the project pipeline into investment as South Africa struggles to raise economic growth to levels needed to address chronic unemployment and falling living standards.
The economy grew 1.1% in 2025, its strongest annual performance since 2022. Investment has remained a key weakness in the government’s effort to boost growth.
Ramaphosa said gross fixed capital formation stood at about 14% of gross domestic product in 2025, less than half the 30% target set out in an economic policy plan with a deadline of 2030.
Infrastructure constraints have also weighed on economic activity, with logistical inefficiencies such as its poorly maintained railways among factors hampering manufacturing.
The construction industry’s contribution to South Africa’s economy almost halved to 2.3% of value added in 2025 from 4.2% in 2008, according to Statistics South Africa.
The government is seeking to improve the infrastructure pipeline’s credibility by focusing on project preparation and financing rather than simply identifying potential projects.
The state’s latest construction book, in which investors can view the project pipeline, contains more than 170 projects.
Of those, there are 55 with an estimated value of more than R407 billion under construction, while 32 worth about R48 billion have been completed.
Ramaphosa has long promised to turn South Africa into a construction site, having allocated R1.07 trillion toward the buildout over the next three fiscal years in the 2026 budget.
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