He said 645 projects were identified by the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission and these had been streamlined to 18 strategic infrastructure projects.

The projects were estimated at R4 trillion over the next 15 years.

Patel presented the government plans to the delegates at the Presidential Infrastructure Investment Conference in Johannesburg and emphasised that partnerships between government and the private sector were crucial in seeing these projects come to life.

One of the projects would be the unlocking of the northern mineral belt, with Waterberg as the catalyst in Limpopo.

The multi-billion rand project entailed unlocking mineral resources, and the development of rail, water pipeline, energy generation and transmission infrastructure.

Patel said the area had 18 billion tons of coal, 6 323 tons of platinum, 5.5 tons of chromite and 3 611 tons of palladium lying untapped.

Government would build a Durban-Free State-Gauteng logistics and industrial corridor to strengthen the logistics and transport corridor between South Africa's main industrial hubs.

A total of 122 nursing colleges would be built nationally and two new universities would be built in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape.

Six hospitals would be built to improve the public health system.

Other projects would include improving road infrastructure, housing development, information technology and linking rural infrastructure with cities.