Quoted from Business Day, 21 May 2008, Final edition:
TRANSPORT Minister Jeff Radebe will take a proposal to the cabinet next week for the state to contribute to the purchase of a new generation fleet of passenger railway coaches for Metrorail, estimated to cost more than R36bn, writes Linda Ensor.
If approved, it would be the biggest such acquisition by a developing country. Radebe
would not disclose the amount to be requested, but a figure of R36bn has previously been cited.
Full text of article, ex page 2:
Linda Ensor, Political Correspondent.
CAPE TOWN — Transport Minister Jeff Radebe is to take a proposal to the cabinet next week for the state to contribute to the purchase of a new-generation fleet of passenger railway coaches for Metrorail estimated at more than R36bn. If approved it would represent the biggest such acquisition by a developing country.
The minister would not disclose the amount to be requested, but an acquisition figure of R36bn was cited previously by officials of the South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC), which took over Metrorail.
Radebe said the project would be undertaken by a public-private partnership. “If we don’t undertake this intervention, the public transport system will collapse totally, and government cannot allow this,†Radebe said at a media briefing before his budget speech in the National Assembly yesterday. Radebe said replacing the coaches, in line with a mandate laid down by President Thabo Mbeki in his state of the nation address last year, was urgent as any delay would increase costs.
He expected implementation of the programme to start towards the end of this year. SARCC officials have said in the past that the plan involved buying 540 coaches a year for the next 15 years, or 8 100 new coaches for altogether about R36bn. This would provide for growth in demand by rail commuters. Radebe emphasised that the affordability of rail commuting would not be compromised, whatever the funding model eventually decided on. SARCC CEO Lucky Montana said the majority of Metrorail’s 4 600 coaches (1 000 of which were not operating) were extremely old with an average life of 41 years. Without a recapitalisation, its passengers would continue travelling in substandard conditions. As there was a three-year delivery time for coaches, it was urgent for them to be ordered as soon as possible. In the meantime, SARCC had embarked on a R7bn refurbishment and upgrading programme for about 2 000 coaches over the next three years.
Radebe is also supporting the Road Accident Fund (RAF) in its discussions with the treasury for a massive capital injection, without which it would not be able to meet its challenges, he said. RAF CEO Jacob Modise said the fund, which pays compensation to accident victims and is funded by the fuel levy, needed about R4bn immediately and R46bn over the next three years to wipe out the accumulated backlog of claims.
I wonder why the minister would not disclose the exact amount requested? Is this goverment now a secret society? Is there the possiblity of some underhand dealings taking place in the proposed public-private partnership?
