Economic gloom won't inhibit Transnet's investment plans - Socikwa

South Africa’s slew of bad news from violent strikes to political tension pose a massive challenge to the Transnet Market Demand Strategy, but the organisation has no other choice but to forge ahead, said Karl Socikwa chief executive of Transnet Port Terminals. Delivering the keynote address at the Western Cape Exporter of the Year awards last week, Socikwa said there was no denying the impact of ongoing violent strike action, increased political tensions on the road to Mangaung and the low economic activity. “Then we are also facing worsening global economic activities, while we have to deal with the downgrading of the country by Moody’s. The local manufacturing sector is in virtual recession due to lacklustre demand in global markets,” he said. “Yes, we could say we are in a desperate situation, but our position as Transnet is very clear and that is that we have to keep on going. More so than ever before.” He said now was not the time to back out of investing in much-needed infrastructure, but the situation has called for more innovative thinking on how to do things. “We are committed to the MDS that will entail R302 billion of expenditure which is to be invested in the replacement and expansion of a variety of infrastructure projects with the aim of boosting economic growth. Yes, the low levels of economic activity do pose a massive threat to this programme, but we will continue with it.” He said spending money on capital infrastructure was never an easy exercise as one had to borrow large sums of money and in doing so had to convince investors that their money was being spent responsibly. “Despite the bad news plaguing South Africa at present we remain confident that we can do just that,” said Socikwa. CAPTION Karl Socikwa … ‘We are committed to the MDS.’