The European Investment Bank (EIB) vice-president, Plutarchos Sakellaris, announced yesterday that the bank would invest about R3-billion in South African infrastructure projects.

The EIB is looking to focus on water, energy and climate change mitigation projects. The EIB was in the "early stages" of a number of contracts with wind-farm developers across the country, he said.

EIB's current mandate for South African investments covered a total of €900-million to 2013, of which almost 70% had been committed by the end of 2009.

Sakellaris said that the EIB saw South Africa as the engine for economic development in Africa.

Reported by Engineering News