South Africa needs to maintain and expand its electricity, water, transport and telecommunications infrastructure in order to support economic growth and social development goals. Given the government's limited finances, private funding will need to be sourced for some of these investments.
The role and effectiveness of sector regulators needs to be reviewed. In addition to issuing licences and setting tariffs, regulators need to place more emphasis on stimulating market competition and promoting affordable access to quality services. This will require capacity-building in regulatory institutions.
Policy planning and decision-making often requires trade-offs between competing national goals. For instance, the need to diversify South Africa's energy mix to include more renewable energy sources, which tend to be variable in terms of production, should be balanced against the need to provide a reliable, more affordable electricity supply.
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