Consolidated Infrastructure Group, listed first as Buildworks, is one of a handful of stocks from the construction listings boom of 2007 that has prospered, having shifted its focus to power infrastructure with the purchase of Conco in 2010. This week, it posted full-year sales of R3.6-billion, with its profit up 28% to R331-million. The entrepreneurial founders have added renewable energy, environmental cleaning services and rail to the mix. BT spoke to CEO Raoul GamsuCould the stand-off between Eskom and the renewable energy guys take longer to finalise than you expected?We think it may take a little longer to finalise and the contracts that should have been awarded have not. So, we did not include anything in our order book.It is very hard to understand what the drivers are; it has been an incredibly successful programme for the Department of Energy, the developers, the consumers in South Africa, the amount of electricity that is now going into the grid, and for the likes of us. We built a whole new billion-rand-a-year-plus business on the back of the sector. We hope that pragmatism prevails over time.If it is resolved, and Eskom reaches agreement with renewable energy providers, how much potential does this business have?It is enormous. The amount of money that needs to be spent on the transmission grid, on strengthening the grid, is substantial.In the first stage of round four [of Eskom's renewable energy projects], we are anticipating that we will get R2-billion to R3-billion of extra work; we have already contractually signed over a billion rand, although we have not put that in our order book. We adopted a more prudent approach.story_article_left1Would work in South Africa sustain you, without a need to chase more business in Africa?Whether South Africa can sustain us or not is irrelevant. We believe we need to be a geographically diversified and sector-diversified company.So when you are building infrastructure - even if you anticipate that in South Africa you will need to spend R39-billion on the grid, which is the National Development Plan's estimates - to us it is more important that we get a spectrum of work across a multitude of countries because you will still have quiet years.You recently set up a new division called CIGenCo, which you described as a "transformative investment division". Why?We started this a couple of years ago to look at taking equity investments in independent power projects. We backed one originally in Kenya, and made a substantial amount on our original invested capital. Since that time, we have built a substantial pipeline of about eight projects, probably over R900-million of potential equity that will have to go into that. Even if it's half successful, it will be significant.Angola's economy has suffered with the oil price slide and currency woes, and you are exposed there after buying a company called AES in 2012. How is it doing?The oil price decline has certainly taken the gloss off what is happening there, but our business is very correlated to production, and production of oil has increased .It is also correlated to compliance with legislation, and that is what is driving our business.We think we have a market-leading position in Angola. Our return on investments is in the top end, and we believe we can sustain it.How about rail - you bought a company called Tractionel at the end of last year and it sounds like you've been blind-sided by events at Prasa [the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa].Can I use the words "We were unlucky"? [Laughs.] We bought the businesses and it feels like we've been through a year, and we're back to where we were last year. All the work and the tenders that went in were cancelled with Prasa CEO [Lucky Montana] leaving and you now are resubmitting exactly the same proposals you were a year ago. So you kind of worked really hard to stand still in the past 12 months. This goes back to my first point: having sector and geographic diversification.But rail's order book is R250-million and EBITDA was R20-million, so has it not become a big hole in the business?No, it has not, and I am very excited about what the rail sector can yield. We like to buy in on what we believe are emerging trends. Now, you cannot take an African population from 950million to 1.6 billion during the next 30 years and create employment, and a future, if your inter-country trade is only 15%. And you'll probably find South Africa dominates that. Now, if you want a continent where you create opportunity, you have to trade with your neighbours, and we believe there is in excess of R100-billion rail investment that is needed over the medium term - and that is why we bought into it.Talevi is a BDTV presenter..