South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, says the government is making efforts to address the “deep and structural problems” in his country’s economy, including electricity, railways/ports and dwindling investments.
Ramaphosa stated this during his annual State of the Nation Address on Thursday.
He said the government was accelerating the implementation of “far-reaching structural reforms” to modernise and transform these industries, unlock investment, reduce costs and increase competitiveness and growth.
According to him, several new energy generation projects will come online over the next few years to offset the electricity supply shortfall of around 4,000 MW.
The president said that the country was implementing fundamental changes to the structure of the electricity sector.
“Amendments to the Electricity Regulation Act have been approved on Wednesday, to enable a competitive market for electricity generation and the establishment of an independent state-owned transmission company.’’
“The efforts to deal with functioning of South African ports is currently focused on improving operational efficiencies through procuring additional equipment and reducing congestion.’’
The president also announced that South Africa would unlock new spectrum for mobile telecommunications for the first time in over a decade, commencing the public auction of high frequency communications spectrum after about three weeks.
Other methods include attracting skilled immigrants by streamlining and modernising the visa application process; prioritising institutional reforms in the water sector to ensure water security, investment and maintenance.
Ramaphosa listed others as unleashing the potential of small, micro and informal businesses; reducing red tape to improve the business environment for companies of all sizes, among others.
