Big-ticket infrastructure to underpin NDP12
Lewanika Timothy | Wednesday October 2, 2024 10:49
Whilst the first draft for the NDP12 is expected to be released in October this year, economic advisor in the Office of the President, Noma Sephuma, lifted the lid on government’s intentions to anchor its roadmap on accelerated infrastructure investment.
Speaking during an infrastructure and construction symposium organised by Absa Bank Botswana, Sephuma said that the upcoming NDP12 was aiming for real economic growth, with infrastructure identified as the driver.
“A key priority area under NDP12 will be the development of appropriate infrastructure – there is need for a regional and spatial approach to infrastructure development to open up the economy,” she said.
Sephuma added: “Government is looking for outcomes that will drive real economic growth. “Investment opportunities include clean energy, large water infrastructure projects, electricity infrastructure, transportation networks, telecommunications systems, horticultural production, and agro-processing.”
This year the Finance ministry proposed a development budget of P21 billion for the 2023–2024 financial year, P6.3 billion more than it had originally planned last September, to maintain the country’s growth momentum.
Delivering the budget speech in Parliament this year, Minister of Finance, Peggy Serame, said that the increase in the development budget to P21 billion was designed to fill infrastructure gaps and implement projects that are necessary to unlock constraints to economic growth.
“Government will, through this proposed budget, invest in the economic and social infrastructure necessary to support economic activities in order to stay on track to achieving high-income status by 2036, as well as sustaining livelihoods for the most vulnerable groups of the society,” she said.
The NDP12 draft will outline national priorities and projects to be funded from 2025 to 2030.
Multi-year NDPs have traditionally provided the policy framework and national priorities guiding annual budget spending since Independence. The current two-year Transitional NDP, with an initially approved P64 billion funding plan, is set to conclude on March 31 next year.
Whilst infrastructure investment has been a developmental silver bullet for developed economies, implementation bottlenecks in developmental spending have always marred such ambitions, especially in Botswana. Government officials recently revealed that only five of the projects in the P64 billion TNDP had been implemented, with projects stuck at low completion levels.
Government's intention to get its hands dirty in the infrastructure space, was earlier echoed and resounded by the largest pension fund in the country, the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF), which also revealed that it is intensifying its search for large-scale infrastructure opportunities as it faces mounting pressure to meet its ambitious growth targets.
The fund said it was prioritising infrastructure investments, both domestically and offshore, as it seeks to ensure long-term sustainability and secure significant returns for its members.