In South Africa, infrastructure projects worth hundreds of billions of rands over the next five years are on the drawing board, but funding them has become a problem, according to Ernst & Young.

John Wetton, a director and construction leader at Ernst & Young, recently said in a presentation on key construction costs and strategies for weathering the storm that there were still great opportunities for the construction sector because of infrastructure, housing and the demands of backlogs.

Wetton saw the Government’s infrastructure expenditure initiative “progressing for some time” because the current programme was to catch up on past underinvestment.

Population growth and urbanisation would continue to drive investment in infrastructure, he said. “Money will be an issue, but there will be a way around this. I think there will be more public-private partnerships to fund these projects.”

Rob Stretch, the director of business tax advisory at Ernst & Young, said it was an absolute necessity for the Government to source funding for its infrastructure programme.

“We can’t continue as we are, as infrastructure is inhibiting growth in the economy. We have to fund the infrastructure programme or the economy will never get beyond 3% growth again,” he said.