Investors Go All In On Ramaphosa Pledge to Rebuild South Africa
The president wants to invest $88 billion in infrastructure by 2030 — a plan that helped make construction the country’s most successful sector last year
The EB Cloete construction project in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Photographer: Leon Sadiki/BloombergOn South Africa’s busiest freight corridor, men and a handful of women decked out in blue overalls, hard hats and reflector jackets transform the landscape. As workers dodge cement mixers and construction site scaffolding, bulldozers widen the road linking the province of Gauteng to the eastern port city of Durban.
Similar scenes are playing out across the country, as investors pour money into the country’s construction sector. They’re betting that a multi-billion-rand strategy by President Cyril Ramaphosa to overhaul South Africa’s aging infrastructure will trigger a building boom. While red tape and criminal groups targeting the industry remain major concerns, analysts are optimistic that gains will continue.