<\/p>\n
The Infrastructure Governance Reform Programme builds on budget support provided to SA since 2023, bringing the Bank\u2019s total financing for related reforms to more than $1.2 billion. \u201cThis operation sits squarely on the Bank\u2019s Four Cardinal Points,\u201d African Development Bank Group Director-General for Southern Africa Kennedy Mbekeani said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIt crowds private capital into transmission and rolling stock, strengthens the institutions that let SA finance infrastructure on its own terms, targets the jobs a young population needs and builds infrastructure that can stand climate pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Bank provided $300 million through the 2023 Energy Governance and Climate Resilience Support Programme.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The programme supported the restructuring of Eskom, establishment of the National Transmission Company SA and greater private-sector participation in renewable energy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Another $474.5 million was provided through the 2025 Infrastructure Governance and Green Growth Programme.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The financing supported electricity-market reforms, renewable-energy integration, improved distribution efficiency and changes to the transport sector.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The latest programme is being implemented through a development-partner framework led by National Treasury.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The electricity reforms seek to move Eskom away from being the sole buyer and seller of electricity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The National Energy Regulator of SA has issued a market-operator licence to the operator housed within the National Transmission Company South Africa.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The regulator has also approved rules determining access to grid capacity and established a unit to monitor competition.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The wholesale electricity market is expected to account for 10% of transactions by December 2027.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In freight rail, the Transnet Rail Infrastructure Manager is allocating train paths across 21 232 kilometres of track.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
At least 11 slots across six corridors were awarded to private train operators in August 2025.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The regulator is expected to approve at least six new private rail and port operators by December 2027, while annual rail-freight volumes are targeted to increase from 161 million tonnes to 180 million tonnes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SA also signed a 25-year concession for Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 in December 2025.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The terminal handles 46% of the country\u2019s containers, with capacity expected to increase from 2 million to 2.8 million twenty-foot equivalent units by 2028.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Annual investment in rolling stock is targeted to triple to approximately $360 million.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Bank said the reforms were expected to deliver shorter truck queues at the Port of Durban, more reliable water services and competitively priced electricity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–AfDB\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":50810,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-50808","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has approved a $503.75 million loan to support reforms aimed at opening South Africa's (SA) electricity, freight transport and water sectors to competition and private investment.","published_date":"","news_description":"The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has approved a $503.75 million loan to support reforms aimed at opening South Africa's (SA) electricity, freight transport and water sectors to competition and private investment.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/50808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/50808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50824,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/50808\/revisions\/50824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=50808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}