The Co-chair of the BRICS Infrastructure Working Group, Zodwa Mbele, says that infrastructure development is critical to economic development and essential for regional integration.
She was speaking following the conclusion of the 15th BRICS summit on Thursday held in Johannesburg.
Mbele, says that while the private sector was willing to finance projects, more needed to be done still to make projects bankable.
She says, ” Infrastructure is very critical to catalyze the economic development, and the way we looked at it, it was not only from the South Africa lens, we also were looking at it from the regional integration point of view.”
‘As we know that if you develop one country, it also makes sense that other countries must develop, and taking into consideration that there is Africa Continental Free Trade, that needs to be operationalised. What we do still lack, is to push the projects into the pipeline, such that they are bankable. I think that is the challenge that is faced by South Africa, but also by the continent.”
VIDEO: Discussion on expansion of BRICS bloc:
