The Development Bank of Southern Africa has called on governments on the continent to properly plan their mega projects‚ make them people-inclusive and not centered around the legacy of politicians. Speaking at the Infrastructure Africa conference in Sandton today‚ Mo Shaik‚ chief executive of international finance at DBSA‚ said many mega projects were not completed on time nor within budget because of poor planning.He told delegates from across the continent that poor planning resulted in projects costing three times the initial budget and twice the time.“Mega projects are always over budget‚ never on time and always cost someone more than the budgeted money. It is very important to plan right. The good about this is that the science of infrastructure is helping develop tools and skills for planning‚” Shaik said.The conference‚ hosted by the Gauteng department of infrastructure‚ seeks to find better solutions on managing and funding infrastructure projects across the continent.South Africa's major projects have had delays which have cost the economy billions of rand. The delay in the commissioning of the Medupi and Kusile power station is among the reasons Eskom has embarked on load-shedding‚ which has depressed the country's economic growth over the past three years.As at the end of 2014‚ South Africa had spent R1-trillion on infrastructure projects over a five-year period‚ but completing projects on time and within budget is still a problem for government.Shaik told delegates that another hindrance in infrastructure involves consultation with the people who will use the facilities built by governments.“Let me just confess‚ I am a guy who genuinely believes that e-tolling is right. User-pay principle is correct. We must pay e-toll [bills]. But e-tolls did not have a proper consultation process.Because of that it developed a movement that rejected the use of it. All the work that has been done by Sanral to explain the benefits should have been done in the beginning. Users of the road could have had a better understanding and accepted of the user-pay principle‚” said Shaik.He also urged that politicians to build infrastructure for the benefit of the people‚ not just to leave their own legacy.“Are we building this road because it gets the president quicker to the airport or are we building the road because it will free the movement of people and goods? Are we building Grand Inga [hydropower project in Democratic Republic of Congo] because there is a genuine need to supply energy or we are doing because as politicians‚ we want to leave behind a legacy?‚” he said...