Property managers throughout Gauteng have tended towards a 'self-help' approach. Investors and developers are becoming accustomed to contributing to infrastructure costs for their development projects. Talk of development levies on commercial and industrial property has been raised in other provinces, with the result that the issue of ring-fencing infrastructure contributions has become a major one.

Infrastructure lays the foundation for development, be it residential or commercial and industrial. As one indicator of the scope of work currently being undertaken to ensure infrastructure investment, the Development Bank of Southern Africa reports that it approved R4,305 million of funding for infrastructure projects during fiscal 1997/9. These projects in total are valued at R13,500 million.

In Gauteng province, the DBSA funding was allocated for a diverse range of projects for various different recipients. Eight projects received funding from the DBSA in 1997/98. While three were for educational and community-related projects, five were for direct infrastructure investment:

It is noteworthy that the funding for infrastructure projects has been wholly awarded to metropolitan authorities.