Mbeki opens book on Asgisa

2006-02-03 11:08

Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki has revealed further details of specific interventions to ensure government's Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (Asgisa) succeeds in its purposes.

In his state of the nation address to a joint sitting of parliament on Friday, he said state-owned enterprises and the public sector as a whole, working in some instances through public-private partnerships, will make large investments in various sectors.

These were intended to, among other things, meet the demand for electricity, provide an efficient and competitive logistic infrastructure, expand and modernise the telecommunications infrastructure, and satisfy the demand for water.

Mbeki said government would continue to pay particular attention to the Expanded Public Works Programme as an important bridge between the two economies and a significant part of the poverty alleviation programme.

"Among other things, resources for the public works programmes will be pooled to ensure maximum impact both in terms of products delivered and employment and skills-training opportunities," he said.

Measures would be introduced, to ensure that capital budgets are spent without roll-overs, labour-intensive methods are prioritised, and the necessary training of workers is carried out to provide them with skills," he said.

- SAPA