South Africa will place infrastructure development at the centre of its year-long Chairship of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with SADC Chairperson, President Cyril Ramaphosa, calling for faster implementation of regional corridors, railways, ports, roads, energy and water projects.
Closing the 46th Ordinary SADC Summit in eThekwini on Monday evening, President Ramaphosa said infrastructure would be critical to turning the region’s industrialisation ambitions into factories, jobs, trade and economic opportunity.
For President Ramaphosa, industrialisation cannot be separated from the infrastructure needed to move goods, people, energy and resources across borders.
“Our region is richly endowed. We have minerals that are critical to the industries of the future. We have vast agricultural potential. We have abundant renewable energy resources. We have a young population and a growing market.
“Our task is to convert these endowments into factories, farms, enterprises, skills, exports and jobs. For this to happen, we are committed to build the infrastructure that binds our economies together.
“South Africa will therefore place infrastructure development at the centre of its Chairship of SADC,” President Ramaphosa said.
The announcement gives practical expression to South Africa’s Chairship priorities and positions infrastructure as the connective tissue between industrialisation, regional trade and economic development.
The Summit adopted a theme focused on accelerating industrialisation, building on the region’s previous commitments to agricultural transformation, energy transition and greater productive capacity.
Southern Africa possesses significant mineral resources, agricultural potential and renewable energy resources, as well as a young and growing population. But converting these advantages into economic growth requires infrastructure capable of linking production to markets.
Corridors as arteries of regional integration
A major focus of South Africa’s Chairship will therefore be the development and efficient functioning of regional corridors.
President Ramaphosa said the corridors should become “arteries of regional integration”, connecting production centres to markets, linking landlocked countries to ports and allowing goods, services and people to move more efficiently and at lower cost.
“We therefore call on corridor countries to conclude and implement the necessary legal and institutional arrangements required to operationalise these corridors,” he said.
The emphasis on corridors builds on SADC’s long-standing regional infrastructure agenda, including the Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP), which identifies transport connectivity as a critical component of regional integration.
The region has also recognised that infrastructure investment cannot be considered in isolation from trade facilitation. Inefficient border procedures, fragmented systems and delays can undermine the economic value of major roads, railways and ports.
The Cross-Border Road Transport Agency has identified the reduction of mobility constraints and the improvement of the unimpeded flow of freight and commuters as central to cross-border transport and regional integration.
Its strategic work has included support for One-Stop Border Posts, corridor efficiency, harmonised standards and procedures, and the development of cross-border transport partnerships.
From roads to rail and ports
President Ramaphosa said South Africa would also work with the region to revitalise railway networks, expand and modernise ports and improve road and logistics systems.
“We know that without efficient infrastructure, there can be no competitive regional economy,” he said.
The emphasis is particularly important for landlocked SADC countries, whose economies depend on efficient transport corridors to access regional and international markets.
The development of corridors can also support regional industrialisation by allowing countries to specialise in different stages of production while ensuring that components, raw materials and finished products can move efficiently between them.
This is central to SADC’s ambition to develop regional value chains rather than simply exporting raw materials.
The SADC Annual Corporate Plan for 2026/27 identifies industrial development and market integration, infrastructure development in support of regional integration, and increased intra-SADC trade as core priorities.
Energy as another pillar
Infrastructure under South Africa’s Chairship will not be confined to transport.
President Ramaphosa said SADC was determined to increase access to electricity across the region to at least 85 percent by 2030.
“But access alone is not enough. Our households and businesses need electricity that is reliable, affordable and increasingly generated from the diverse energy resources with which our region is blessed.
“We will strengthen regional electricity interconnection and accelerate investment in generation and transmission infrastructure so that energy can move efficiently between our countries,” he said.
This is particularly important as SADC seeks to industrialise. Reliable energy is necessary for manufacturing, mining, agriculture, digital infrastructure and small businesses, while regional electricity trading can help countries balance differences in generation capacity and demand.
The same infrastructure logic, the President said, must apply to water and sanitation.
“We will bring the same urgency to water and sanitation,” he said.
He framed such investment not merely as capital expenditure, but as an investment in the region’s people and productive capacity.
“Investment in water, sanitation, energy and transport infrastructure is not simply investment in physical assets.
“It is investment in human dignity, economic opportunity and the future productive capacity of our region,” he said.
Financing the ambition
The scale of the infrastructure agenda raises a central question: where will the money come from?
President Ramaphosa said South Africa’s Chairship would support stronger mobilisation of domestic, regional and international resources for implementation of the RISDP and SADC Vision 2050.
A key component will be the operationalisation of the SADC Regional Development Fund.
The Fund is designed to provide a regional financing mechanism for economic development and sustainable growth. Its operationalisation has been repeatedly identified by SADC as an important step towards addressing financing gaps for regional programmes and projects.
Recent SADC engagements with the African Development Bank have similarly focused on infrastructure financing, industrialisation, private-sector participation and innovative financing solutions.
President Ramaphosa said the region should mobilise its own resources to finance its development priorities while continuing to work with international financial institutions, development partners and the private sector.
The test is implementation
President Ramaphosa said SADC had developed the strategies, institutions and reforms needed to deepen regional integration, but the focus must now shift to implementation.
“The challenge before us is therefore implementation,” he said.
He said progress should be measured not by meetings held and resolutions adopted, but by tangible outcomes, including kilometres of railway rehabilitated, megawatts of electricity generated and transmitted, reduced border-crossing times, factories established, increased intra-regional trade and jobs created.
For South Africa’s Chairship, this means using its convening role to drive infrastructure projects, financing mechanisms and reforms that translate regional commitments into tangible benefits for citizens.
“Let us build a Southern Africa that is peaceful, integrated, industrialised and prosperous. And let us build it together,” the SADC Chair said. – SAnews.gov.za
