As reported in Part 1 of this dialogue, the Inclusive Society Institute has embarked on an extensive economic research project, which will culminate in a comprehensive ‘Blueprint for rejuvenating South Africa’s economy’. The methodology includes a series of dialogues with various sectoral stakeholders and policymakers. These dialogues each have two parts to them:
Gaining an understanding from the particular sectors perspective as to what the country needs to correct policy wise
What new initiatives / policies should be introduced to shift the economy onto a higher growth trajectory.
The second dialogue with the construction community was held on Tuesday, 2 November 2021, with the focus being on new thinking aimed at catapulting South Africa onto a higher economic growth trajectory. Proposals were made aimed at:
Maximising available private sector capital by harnessing the potential through holistic and coordinated developmental planning
Better cashflow management, and a range of smaller may be better than mega.
Maintenance of existing infrastructure
Removal of red tape, keep real accountability to streamline procedures and to ensure greater simplicity within the bureaucratic processes
Incentivise remuneration, clean audits and the removal of corruption
The strengthening of municipalities by treating the private sector as an equal partner
Measures need to be put in place to remove bottlenecks that are suffocating development
Greater focus on sustainable development as opposed to vanity projects
Tenders need to be more specific, simplified and streamlined
Leadership, skills, capacity and decisive decision-making needs to be enhanced
A full report on the deliberations will be released in due course.