Three Infrastructure Project Risks SA Can’t Afford to Ignore

Insight by Philip Cronje, Business Unit Manager at Aon South Africa

South Africa’s infrastructure pipeline – spanning transport, energy, water and urban development – is essential to economic growth and social resilience. But as projects increase in scale and urgency, they are also becoming harder to deliver. Cost pressure, skills shortages, constrained supply chains and growing reliance on technology mean that risks are no longer confined to construction alone.

Across the project lifecycle, three trends are emerging as decisive factors in whether infrastructure projects succeed or fail: design maturity, contractual clarity and technology integration.

Trend 1: Get the Design Right Early

In South Africa, infrastructure projects are often accelerated to address urgent service delivery gaps. While understandable, this can result in projects breaking ground with incomplete or immature designs – a key driver of cost overruns, delays and rework.

Design risk is amplified locally by:

• Scarce specialist skills, particularly in heavy civil, tunnelling, energy and water infrastructure.
• Evolving environmental, safety and regulatory requirements, which can delay approvals or trigger redesigns if not addressed upfront.
• Growing use of digital and AI-enabled design tools, which offer powerful modelling capabilities but still require experienced human oversight.

Mature, well-defined designs – aligned early with insurance and risk strategies – are critical. Without this alignment, coverage gaps and latent defects may only surface later, when fixes are costly and disruptive.

Trend 2: Clarify Contracts to Allocate Risk Fairly

South African infrastructure projects often involve multiple public and private stakeholders, funders and contractors. When contracts do not clearly allocate risk across these parties, uncertainty compounds over the life of the project.

Poor contractual hygiene can lead to:

• Scope creep and cost escalation between construction and operational phases.
• Disputes around liability, delays and performance guarantees.
• Misalignment between contractual obligations and available insurance cover.

Local market conditions make this even more important. Insurance capacity is finite and coverage terms are influenced by global pressures such as inflation, climate events and reinsurance constraints. Contracts that are not structured with these realities in mind can expose project participants to uninsured or poorly priced risks. Clear, balanced contracts that aligned with insurance terms and realistic risk-sharing mechanisms, are essential to protecting both balance sheets and project timelines.

Trend 3: Technology Is Reshaping Infrastructure and Its Risks
Technology is transforming how infrastructure is designed, built and operated in South Africa. Digital modelling, automation, AI, IoT and smart-city systems are improving efficiency, safety and asset performance – particularly in energy, transport and municipal services.

However, these benefits come with new challenges:

• Unclear liability when AI-driven designs or autonomous systems fail.
• Inadequate validation of AI-generated outputs, creating technical or safety risks.
• Skills gaps, where teams are not fully equipped to use advanced tools effectively.
• Rising cyber exposure, as connected infrastructure creates more entry points for cyberattacks.

As critical infrastructure becomes increasingly digital, cyber resilience is no longer optional. It must be built into planning, design and operational phases to prevent cascading failures across essential services.

Building Resilience from Day One

The most resilient infrastructure projects are those that embed risk management early – before construction begins. Yet many organisations still involve risk, legal and insurance advisors too late, once key decisions have already been locked in.

Resilience starts with:

• Early risk and insurance alignment during design and contract development.
• Clear, fair contractual frameworks that reflect local market realities.
• Thoughtful adoption of technology, supported by training, governance and cyber protection.

As infrastructure risks continue to evolve – from inflation and supply chain disruption to climate and cyber threats – proactive risk management is no longer a “nice to have”. It is central to delivering infrastructure that is financially viable, insurable and fit for purpose for the communities it serves.

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Author: Thuli Sikhosana from Teresa Settas Communications on behalf of AON SA.