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ISA Construction Book 2026

R396bn Construction Book Unveiled — But It's a Different Pipeline Altogether

South Africa's newly released 2026 Construction Book reports 110 projects worth approximately R395.8 billion, up from the R231.8 billion recorded in the 2025 edition — a headline increase of roughly 71%, achieved despite a far smaller and more concentrated project list. The rise, however, reflects a change in scope rather than straightforward pipeline growth. The 2026 edition restructures the portfolio into six sectors: municipal infrastructure (R112.8bn, 10 projects), energy (R85.9bn, 29 projects), transport (R81.3bn, 41 projects), social infrastructure (R51.9bn, 16 projects), water (R35.1bn, 18 projects) and digital infrastructure (R28.8bn, 3 projects) — though it's worth noting these sector counts sum to 117 rather than the stated 110, an inconsistency worth treating with some caution.

The most significant shift is in municipal infrastructure, now the largest sector, expanding from Cape Town as the sole local government represented in 2025 to include eThekwini, Polokwane, Tshwane, Johannesburg and Mogale City, with large catalytic and mixed-use developments such as GIBA, Sibaya and Cornubia now featuring alongside conventional municipal works. Transport has also been transformed, growing from a narrow list of airport and port projects into 41 projects worth roughly R81 billion, driven largely by an extensive new SANRAL road programme spanning almost every province. Transnet's single named rail project has been replaced by four broader corridor programmes, and social infrastructure and digital infrastructure emerge as substantial new growth areas — the former anchored by a national hospital-building programme, the latter introducing projects such as SKA/MeerKAT and SA Connect Phase 2 for the first time. PPPs have also been included in the book for the first time.

Against this, water shows the clearest pruning, with several major national schemes — including Lesotho Highlands Phase 2, Mokolo-Crocodile Phase 2 and the Mzimvubu Water Project,  dropping out as named projects without explanation. Among projects that do carry over, some show genuine progress (Macassar WWTW and Berg River–Voëlvlei have advanced into construction), while others show slippage, with procurement dates for projects like Lower uMkhomazi and Cape Town desalination pushed further out than the 2025 book indicated. Provincially, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng gain the most in breadth, the Western Cape remains diversified but less dominant than before, and Free State and Mpumalanga remain comparatively thin. Overall, the 2026 Construction Book offers a broader and more commercially useful view of the market, particularly on transport and municipal development — but without a reconciliation of which 2025 projects were completed, deferred, cancelled or simply dropped, it remains a market map rather than a firm delivery scorecard.

Download the full provincial project reconciliation work book here, that compares projects included in 2025 and 2026, including project details, sectors, stages and values (available to subscribers)

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