From Business Day Live

Deloitte says investment in African megaprojects surged 46% to $326bn last year led by heavy investment in transport, energy and power distribution.

That far exceeds the $93bn the World Bank says Africa needs each year for infrastructure development, including one-third of that amount for maintenance.

But Andre Pottas, Deloitte head of infrastructure and capital projects southern Africa, says the apparently huge gulf between the World Bank and Deloitte figures lies in report methodology.

“Our report includes public and private investment — mining and commercial property — not just social infrastructure such as roads, housing and water,” he says. “The World Bank number largely refers to public, or social, infrastructure.”

The pace of growth in African construction projects has great import for SA’s listed construction and engineering firms. Many of them are now deriving significant income from offshore operations — mainly in Australasia and Africa — as South African government spending languishes.

Among the biggest of them, Murray & Roberts, reported in February that 93% of profits before interest and tax in the six months to December came from outside SA, along with 65% of revenue.

CEO Henry Laas says the group has never seen such a high a proportion of earnings coming from outside the domestic market.

Read more at Business Day Live