Western Cape faces infrastructure gap threatening the region’s advantage

The Western Cape’s export-led economy is expanding faster than the infrastructure required to sustain it. This widening “infrastructure gap” is beginning to deter investors and risks weakening the region’s global competitiveness.

Ilse van Schalkwyk of the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism says that while growth has been robust, supporting systems have not kept pace. Congestion at the Port of Cape Town has delayed table grape exports during peak season, undermining time-sensitive agricultural trade. Poor road conditions have also increased costs for local firms, including dairies and other producers reliant on reliable transport links.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry, van Schalkwyk outlined the province’s response. Central to this is the Growth for Jobs (G4J) strategy, which includes a R400bn investment pipeline and a target of expanding the provincial economy to R1trn by 2035.

The provincial government’s approach focuses on facilitating private-sector investment, improving municipal service delivery, and implementing a 50-year infrastructure plan. An “Investment Readiness” scorecard is also being introduced to assess the performance of local governments. The aim is to ensure that municipalities meet the standards required to compete for capital in an increasingly mobile global economy.

The challenge, however, is one of execution. Without faster improvements in ports, roads and municipal capacity, growth ambitions may remain constrained by physical bottlenecks.