on the Monorail proposal by the Gauteng province
23 May 2007
On 17 May 2007 the MEC for Finance and Economic Affairs in the Gauteng
province addressed the media and announced the launch of Monorail proposal for
Soweto and Johannesburg. This address indicated that the project was approved
by the Gauteng province though a memorandum of understanding, the feasibility
study had been concluded and that the project implementation would commence in
September this year. The project was said to be led by a Malaysian consortium
and was a private sector investment of R12 billion.
The Ministry of Transport has since that date been inundated with enquiries
about this Monorail proposal and up to date we have not responded. Today I can
state the following categorically:
I did not know anything about this proposal until it was announced in the
media. Furthermore my Director-General was also not aware of this project prior
to its announcement. Incidentally she, in my absence last week on an official
trip to Geneva, called the Director-General of the Gauteng province after the
announcement to get more information. We can therefore confirm that the Gauteng
province did not consult, nor discuss, nor seek approval for this proposal with
my Ministry or Department.
I am informed that the Malaysian consortium at the early stages of the
proposal met with Ibrahim Seedat on the 4th December 2006 of the Department of
Transport, the Director for Public Transport Strategy and he referred them to
provinces and municipalities.
You will recall that in December 2005 Cabinet approved the interim rail plan
and later on in December 2006 the National Rail Plan, which consolidated
regional rail plans, one of which was for the Gauteng Witwatersrand region
which includes Soweto. None of these plans included the proposal for a
monorail.
Similarly, in October 2006 as part of October Transport Month at the
Transport Indaba, ironically held in Soweto for public consultation was
submitted the Public Transport Strategy and Transport World Cup 2010 Action
Agenda, neither of which contained the proposal on the Monorail.
In February 2007, in his State of the Nation Address the President clearly
stated the government's intention to introduce Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Systems
in the implementation of the Public Transport Strategy. In line with that the
Minister of Finance in his Budget Speech announced an increased allocation for
the Transport sector including more than R2 billion over Medium Term
Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for BRT and buses.
The Lead project for BRT as we know is the Rea Vaya proposal led by the
Johannesburg Metropolitan Council for which the main corridor is the Lenasia to
Soweto to Parktown. This is the same area for which this Monorail is now
proposed.
As recent as Monday, 7 May I met with the Mayor and members of the Mayoral
Council of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Council to discuss Public Transport
and throughout our meeting the Monorail proposal was not discussed.
I can therefore confirm that the National Land Transport Transition Act
(NLTTA) specifies rail as a national competence and proposals for rail are made
through the Municipal Integrated Transport Plan (ITP) to the national Minister
of Transport. The Gautrain for instance received our support and the go ahead
from my predecessor the late Minister Dullah Omar.
The Legal Succession Act also provides for the sole mandate of the South
African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC) for the provision of commuter
passenger rail. The SARCC could appoint others to operate on their behalf.
SARCC has not in our understanding appointed this rail operator on their
behalf.
The Rail Safety Regulator (RSR) in terms of the Rail Safety Regulator Act
would also issue an official licence for infrastructure development, station
development and plans for train operations before any rail operation is
approved. It does not appear this was required or provided by the RSR.
Finally, it is unclear what procurement process was followed to secure this
particular contract or arrangement to facilitate transparent competitive
tendering for this project.
Issued by: Ministry Of Transport
23 May 2007
Source: SAPA
