{"id":870643,"date":"2026-08-18T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=870643"},"modified":"2026-08-18T10:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T08:05:08","slug":"ramaphosas-r58-billion-projects-in-south-africa-under-the-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/870643\/ramaphosas-r58-billion-projects-in-south-africa-under-the-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramaphosa’s R58 billion projects in South Africa under the spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will travel across various provinces this week to assess the progress of infrastructure projects and identify problem areas where they have previously conducted oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These visits are part of the annual oversight initiative, focusing on the timely delivery of public infrastructure and the provision of basic services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next week,  the Northern Cape delegation is expected to receive an update from Premier Zamani Saul regarding delays and unfinished public infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is in addition to the initiatives aimed at improving municipalities. With this being a local government election year, the performance of municipalities is under increased scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In KwaZulu-Natal, Members of Parliament (MPs) will engage with provincial and local government authorities and interact with community members to determine whether previous oversight interventions have yielded tangible progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key projects under review include the Umkomaas Water Project, which was last inspected during the provincial week in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Umkomaas Water Project or uMkhomazi Water Project is a multi-phase bulk water security scheme with an estimated cost of roughly R27.5 billion, making it the largest infrastructure project on the NCOP oversight list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is managed by Umgeni-uThukela Water in collaboration with the Department of Water and Sanitation and serves eThekwini and surrounding districts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2026, the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality announced that it is moving forward with multi-billion-rand water infrastructure projects to enhance water security, stabilise supply, and improve service delivery throughout the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lower uMkhomazi Bulk Water Supply Scheme, which includes a storage dam, a water abstraction point, and a water treatment plant, has now entered Phase 2, with a budget of R11 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The eThekwini Municipality Mayor, Cyril Xaba, announced that upon completion, the project will produce 100 megalitres of water per day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of this total, 75 megalitres will be supplied to eThekwini Municipality. This volume will be sufficient to meet the water needs of all areas in the south, from Isipingo to uMkhomazi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housing and water projects under inspection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Umkomaas Water Project site 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Several housing projects will also be evaluated, and MPs are expected to receive feedback from municipalities on the implementation of previous provincial week resolutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Northern Cape, MPs will visit projects in and around Kimberley, including the Schmidtsdrift Land Restitution Project, the Sol Plaatje Bulk Water Project, and the Hull Street Housing Initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This will be to assess the progress of infrastructure implementation and the delivery of human settlements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sol Plaatje Bulk Water Project is estimated to cost approximately R2.5 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is funded through the National Treasury\u2019s Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI) grant and aims to overhaul Kimberley\u2019s ageing water treatment facilities and distribution networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hull Street Housing Initiative is estimated to cost between R140 million and R180 million. It is a social human settlement development project located in Kimberley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Schmidtsdrift Land Restitution Project involves multi-million-rand investments that may vary across the ongoing phases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This project focuses on infrastructure, agriculture, and post-settlement community support in response to historical land restitution claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NCOP will also engage with residents in Douglas regarding challenges affecting the provision of basic services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Prieska, two major economic development projects will be evaluated: the recommissioning of the Prieska Copper Zinc Mine and the Prieska Power Reserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prieska Power Reserve is estimated to cost between R10.7 billion and R12 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This project is an initiative for green hydrogen and ammonia, developed by Mahlako a Phahla, Central Energy Corporation (CENEC), and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recommissioning of the Prieska Copper Zinc Mine has a total capital expenditure and peak funding requirement estimated to be between R7.2 billion and R7.6 billion (depending on exchange rates).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orion Minerals has provided these estimates for the combined upper- and deep-mining development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s multi-billion rand infrastructure projects will be inspected this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":852556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2089624857294061865","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2179596879527378","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18112242779001941","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[22808,23277,26199,26198],"class_list":["post-870643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-ethekwini","tag-the-national-council-of-provinces-ncop","tag-the-sol-plaatje-bulk-water-project","tag-the-umkomaas-water-project"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870643"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870701,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870643\/revisions\/870701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}