Government spells out plans to keep transport wheels rolling

Government has announced farreaching plans to keep the wheels of South Africa’s transport industry rolling. In her budget vote presented to Parliament earlier this year, minerals and energy minister Buyelwa Sonjica said there would be renewed focus on natural gas in order to reduce the demand for diesel by Eskom. “We are increasing our efforts of introducing natural gas into the South African economy for thermal applications of energy. This will be a long journey that will start with LPG, go through imported LNG and hopefully end up with natural gas from our own shores or our neighbours. “Over the past year PetroSA has developed this opportunity to a point where there are plans to import LNG for power as well as fuel production. This initiative will reduce Eskom's reliance on diesel as a fuel for the power stations in the Cape and, obviously, make more fuel available for transportation purposes”. Steps are also being taken to increase fuel production in the country, and an “Energy Security Master Plan” has been gazetted. “Energy security is not just about availability but also about affordability of energy”.