A new airport is among the items on the ZAR200 billion infrastructure wish list announced by the Gauteng provincial legislature recently.

Businesstech reports that the wishlist includes extending the Gautrain service to Soweto, Mamelodi, Atteridgeville, Lanseria and Springs. The extension, which has been costed at ZAR120 billion, was announced in 2023 Construction, set to kick off in 2025, is expected to last five years and will create more than 10 million jobs, Premier Panyaza Lesufi said in an earlier address to the legislature.

Announcing the ZAR200 billion in infrastructure projects towards the end of November, the finance MEC, Lebogang Maile, said the new airport will be located in the Sedibeng District Municipality, home to Gauteng’s industrial hub of Vanderbijlpark, but gave no further details, other thanto say it would be financed privately through investors. He added the goal was to stimulate economic growth and development in the region.

The region’s infrastructure plan also ties in with national government’s National Rail Masterplan, which envisages a new high-speed train from Gauteng to Limpopo, which will link to the Gautrain. National government still needs to sign off on the rail plan.

3 December 2024
Image: Unsplash