The government has combined two units of the Government Technical Advisory Centre — the Neighbourhood Development Partnership Programme of the Treasury and the Infrastructure Fund — to create a new agency aimed at streamlining and co-ordinating private sector investment in the state’s R1-trillion infrastructure build programme.
The new Infrastructure Finance and Implementation Support Agency (Ifisa) will be housed within the Development Bank of Southern Africa and will start operating on April 1.
It is mandated to mobilise private finance and expertise to reduce reliance on the fiscus and improve risk allocation in infrastructure delivery, the Treasury said in Wednesday’s 2026 budget, delivered in Cape Town.
This follows a previous review of the state’s public-private partnership (PPP) programmes, which found that “fragmentation of institutions, resources and technical capacity contributed to inefficiencies across the project life cycle, resulting in higher costs, duplication of effort and extended gestation periods for major capital projects”.
“The review proposed establishing a centralised gateway for large infrastructure projects to ensure coherent oversight and reduce delays. It also recommended rationalising the proliferation of guidelines, investing in training for officials and developing a centrally published dashboard of bankable projects to support improved transparency and co-ordination with financiers. A core conclusion was that project preparation, appraisal and selection should be located in a single institutional home, supported by appropriate ethical rules to manage potential conflicts of interest,” the Treasury said.
“Public institutions should increasingly see PPPs as a viable alternative method for delivery, particularly in cases where funding limitations or capacity constraints hinder effective implementation. To further unlock PPP opportunities across the government, work is under way to finalise the new PPP regulations for municipalities,” finance minister Enoch Godongwana said.
The final regulations will be published by June 30.
The agency comes as the government ramps up the R1-trillion public infrastructure build programme first announced in the 2025/26 budget. Key allocations include the following:
- R577.4bn will be spent by state-owned companies and other public entities;
- R217.8bn by provinces; and
- R205.7bn by municipalities.
This R1-trillion investment is designed to be a primary economic driver, with an emphasis on improving logistics, energy security and water services.
The government is leveraging the Infrastructure Fund (IF) and the Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI), with a strong focus on public-private partnerships.
In the first three submission windows of 2025/26, 42 projects with a combined capital cost of R438.8bn were received under the BFI. Of these, 10 projects were accepted into the pipeline, while the remainder were either referred to preparation facilities for further development or returned to sponsors for reconsideration, the Treasury said.
For the IF, since it was established in 2019, it has supported the packaging and financial structuring of 26 blended finance projects with a combined capital value of R130.8bn. This includes funding for Cape Town Container Terminal worth over R1.3bn, Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 worth over R4.9bn and upgrading the City of Johannesburg Alternative Waste Technology Treatment for R1.6bn.
“The Infrastructure Fund has secured R51.3bn from the BFI to support these projects and will crowd in R67.3bn in private capital as projects progress towards financial close. The Infrastructure Fund will be consolidated into Ifisa,” the Treasury said.
Among the 63 PPP projects that are going to the market over the medium term, 17 are at the inception phase and 32 are in the feasibility study phase and 14 are in the procurement phase. This include R12.5bn for the upgrading of ports of entry six inland borders that South Africa shares with its neighbouring countries, upgrading the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link System and building an Alternative Waste Treatment Technology project for the City of Johannesburg.
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