North West Premier Mme Thandi Modise has welcomed Eskom’s investment of R10.85 billion in electricity infrastructure for the next five years in the North West province. State Owned Enterprise Broadband Infraco is to spend R162,1 million on broadband connectivity in the North West province to improve communication and reduce the cost of doing business.
Other plans announced by Minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba during the provincial public engagement held on Friday in Rustenburg include the expansion of the rail network in order to reduce freight on public roads responsible for damaging the road infrastructure.
One hundred and forty-five (R145 000 000) million is to be spend on 10 162 new electricity connections which will be installed during the current financial year across the province.
A task team to deal with challenges with Infrastructure Communication Technologies (ICT) with possible future infrastructure development, improve quality of road infrastructure as well as challenges of theft of electricity, illegal connection of electricity and expansion of rail network in the province was established.
The task team will be led by the Deputy Minister of Public Enterprise Dikobe Ben Martins, one MEC to be designated by Premier Modise and government officials from national and provincial departments.
Premier Modise welcomed the establishment of the task team saying it will best deal with the challenges facing infrastructure development in the province.
“Our province is one of the richest when it comes to minerals but yet it is largely underdeveloped. Our provincial growth and development strategies should ensure that jobs are created for the benefit of our people,” said Modise emphatically.
Minister Gigaba said that his department has conducted similar engagements in Gauteng, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape to unblock Environment Impact Assessments, speed up land acquisition and ensure that plans of State Owned Enterprises are aligned to provincial growth strategies and other economic initiatives to contribute to the revitalisation of key towns in provinces.
He said that the engagements are aimed at improving consultation processes especially with the most rural provinces as part of the roll out of the national infrastructure development plan. The department is targeting KwaZulu-Natal for its next engagement.
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Tel: 018 391 0140
Cell: 083 629 1987
Fax: 018 381 0328
E-mail: LKgwele@nwpg.gov.za
