Earlier this year, the Treasury had said the value of long-term projects in the pipeline would amount to R3-trillion. President Zuma did not provide detail on specific infrastructure projects, but repeated that R845bn would be pumped into such projects over the next three years.

"The infrastructure on the scale needed to transform our economy and social landscape will not come cheap," he said at the start of a presidential infrastructure investment conference in Sandton, Johannesburg, the purpose of which, said Mr Zuma, was to thrash out issues such as funding, localisation, state capacity and skills development.

Addressing senior cabinet ministers and delegates from the three tiers of government, big business, labour and communities, Mr Zuma said the government was working on an infrastructure development act to support the work, which would largely be driven by Eskom and Transnet.

"Second, we are reallocating and aligning scarce funds to the build programme and seeking innovative funding mechanisms to address the full package of projects," he said.

Mr Zuma was critical of the mining sector, which has been hit by wildcat strikes and violence in the past two months.

These, he said, "demonstrated just how far we still have to go towards ensuring full compliance with the mining charter, especially with the implementation of social and labour plans that call for an improvement in the living conditions of workers".

The charter focuses on ownership but also sets targets on issues such as housing and social development.

Mr Zuma also took a swipe at the media, saying they were "talking the country and economy down".

"No country should be made to withstand such negativity and total disregard of progress being made or any positive attribute," he said.

"We have to promote our country and boost confidence in the economy so that it can grow and create jobs."

Earlier, Minister of Economic Development Ebrahim Patel said business and the state had agreed on some funding models for the multitrillion-rand infrastructure spend plan and would embark on investor road shows.