NEVA MAKGETLA: Beware wishful thinking and old habits when seeking to turn SA into a construction site
To succeed, Infrastructure SA has to choose projects that disrupt existing systems of exclusion
Easy talk of turning SA into a construction site through a vast infrastructure programme ignores experience, both in SA and internationally, of building projects gone wrong. SA’s last big infrastructure push brought an oversupply of world-class soccer stadiums; the notoriously faulty and expensive Medupi and Kusile power plants; and never-ending controversies over tolls in Gauteng.
Infrastructure spending is a critical tool for raising living standards and driving economic development. But success requires projects that add to productive capacity while diversifying the economy and promoting equality. Moreover, it will fail if it squeezes out other kinds of investment, especially in human and social capital and new productive capacity...
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