Infrastructure
North West Province is upgrading its transport network.
The North West has generally good infrastructure to support its diverse economy. Good air, road and rail links exist although the condition of the road network is causing provincial planners to reallocate resources to maintenance and repair work.
The province’s major road and rail links form the basis of planning for future nodal development: from the southern part of the province on the N18 highway through the western part to Mafikeng (Western Frontier Spatial Development Initiative); from Mafikeng eastwards to Gauteng along the N4 highway (Platinum SDI); and from Carletonville in the east along the line of relatively well-populated towns along the province’s border with the Free State (Treasure Route SDI).
Infrastructure
As part of a programme to improve infrastructure, the Expanded
Public Works Programme in the North West created work opportunities
for 8 000 people in 2007/08. The Modimong road-repair project, using labour-intensive methods, employed 200 people.
The provincial government is also engaged in long-term infrastructure development, whereby emerging farmers are assisted with infrastructure
in the Western Frontier Cattle Beneficiation Initiative and the community of Taung benefits from the irrigation scheme there.
Logistics
The Mafikeng Industrial Development Zone (MIDZ) is a logistics hub attached to the Mafikeng International Airport, with a fast-developing
capacity for dealing with various types of cargo, including cargo of an agricultural nature.
Various companies have already signed memorandums of understanding with the MIDZ and, now that the airport has been officially designated as an international airport, all of the processes for implementation can begin. Among the companies to express interest are Russian Technologies, AerSud, Kopano Utilities and Resources, AFBEA and the University of Pretoria, and the Royal Bafokeng Investment Company.
The City of Matlosana (Klerksdorp) has developed an inter-nodal facility based at the town’s airport. The city council has set aside land for the development of industrial and commercial enterprises. Break-bulk facilities, storage space and distribution centres are needed, offering concrete opportunities for investors in those fields.
Roads
The premier’s state of the province speech in 2009 gave the worrying information that 36% of the province’s roads are in a poor or very poor condition. Furthermore, 70% of the gravel roads are similarly in a bad way. North West has 20 589km of roads, 6 398km of which are paved. An estimated R1.2-billion per annum has to be spent every year for five years. This figure can probably only be achieved through some form of private-public partnership.
Some 150km of roads were due for immediate upgrades in order to be ready for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™.
The Bakwena Platinum Highway (Pretoria to Zeerust) is intended to be part of a transcontinental highway that links Namibia to Mozambique. The North West has a strategic position in this regard.
Several important highways run through the province: the N4, Johannesburg to Botswana; the N12 Johannesburg to Kimberley and the N14 Johannesburg to Springbok.
Air
Mafikeng International Airport can accommodate almost every type of aircraft, equipped as it is with a 4.6km runway.
Pilanesberg International Airport has low volumes of passenger traffic but serves as a very important venue for the tourism and mining industries. Specialist companies like Kwena Air provide aerial and surveying services to the mining industry while charter companies such as Streamline Air Charter and Southern Africa Historic Flight service the tourist market. Johannesburg is a short 30-minutes away, while a flight to Cape Town takes two and a half hours.
There are airstrips for lighter aircraft at Potchefstroom, Krugersdorp, Ventersdorp, Rustenburg, Lichtenburg and Vryburg.
Rail
The main line from Zimbabwe to Cape Town runs through the capital city of Mafikeng. As with the provincial road system, the rail network in the North West primarily serves the freight and cargo needs of the mining industry. About 30 million tons of cargo is transported annually by rail in the province. Approximately a quarter of rail traffic is cargo generated in the province (including cement, lime products, chrome and ferrochrome, maize and wheat), and transported outbound for various destinations. The busiest line through the province is the Cape main line between Gauteng and the Western Cape.
There are important marshalling yards at Potchefstroom (dealing with mostly local traffic generated by the area’s fertiliser plant, incoming liquid fuel for local industries, and maize) and Mafikeng (the junction of the Cape line to points further north and a staging-point for diesel locomotives).
