Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor urged South Africans on Friday to support the country’s bid to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope in the Northern Cape.

South Africa is bidding against Australia to host what would be the world’s biggest radio telescope, with a final decision expected next year, and construction set to start in 2016.

Should South Africa win the bid to host the €1,5-billion SKA project, it would attract a substantial part of the €150-million to €200-million a year necessary for the operations and maintenance of the telescope over 30 to 40 years.

Pandor said that the SKA could also be a powerful driver of socio-economic development in South Africa, and in the rest of Africa.

She explained that the benefits of developing such a large-scale astronomy project would be derived from the human capital development it fostered, and infrastructure that needed to be built.

Government already spent about R110-million on almost 300 grants to train students in physics, astronomy, engineering, as well as technician and artisan training.

“Expanding the number of African scientists and technicians will allow South Africa and the rest of the continent to play an increasingly important role in the global knowledge and technology economy,” said Pandor.

The telescope construction and infrastructure outlay would also generate construction employment in South Africa and the African partner countries including Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia.

A consortium of global partners would fund the SKA, with the US expected to carry about 40%, even though the US Committee for a Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics failed to assign any funding to the SKA for the next ten years.

The SKA will be operational by 2024.