Deputy Speaker, the department will assist small, medium and micro enterprises, SMMEs, and black-owned enterprises to benefit from the implementation of the infrastructure plan in a number of the ways.
Firstly, it will be by working through the Presidential Infrastructure Co- ordinating Commission, PICC, together with other departments and public entities, on policy and procurement measures, and the development of strategic integrated projects; secondly, by facilitating industrial and small business funding through the Small Enterprise Finance Agency, Sefa, and the Industrial Development Corporation, IDC; thirdly, by liaising with larger businesses to strengthen their supplier development programmes and drawing black-owned businesses and small businesses into their supply chains; and, fourthly, by supporting efforts of the competition authorities to combat exclusionary and other anticompetitive behaviour by companies in the construction industry, principally larger companies that make the entry of new and smaller players more difficult.
I would like to point out that many SMMEs and black economic empowerment, BEE, enterprises can benefit from infrastructure: as suppliers of construction services, be it as contractors or subcontractors; as providers of inputs which will benefit from the expansion of local procurement; and as users of the infrastructure themselves, which is particularly important for smallholders and other emerging entrepreneurs in rural areas. We have a number of useful examples from the work of the Construction Industry Development Board, CIDB, the SA National Roads Agency Ltd, Sanral, the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, TCTA, and others that we would be happy to share with hon members.
Finally, the strategic integrated projects themselves attempt to address the infrastructure needs of small businesses and those of black South Africans, which are often hidden away in the rural areas and not connected to the economic mainstream. We can make information on that available. Thank you. [Applause.]