[miningmx.com] – SOUTH Africa had learned important lessons in financing and developing capital intensive infrastructure projects, said Brian Dames, CEO of Eskom, the power utility that will soon commission the first unit of its R100bn Medupi power plant.
Speaking at the African Utility Week conference in Cape Town on Tuesday, Dames said it was crucial decisions were taken timeously owing the long lead times involved in projects of this nature.
“If we want to have capacity, whether it’s water, power or transport, we need to make sure that… we have clear plans in place, look far ahead and make the decisions in time,” he said.
He warned that South African could not afford a ‘stop-start’ approach to large projects. Investment in infrastructure must be a continuous process that will enable us to ensure we retain skills, not only within our own companies but [also] that within the supplier-base,” he said.
