Martins gets behind pro-rail lobby

The South African government is well aware of the challenges it faces in upgrading the country’s road, rail, maritime and aviation infrastructure networks, according to Minister of Transport Dikobe Ben Martins. Speaking at a breakfast briefing in Cape Town recently, Martins said the decision to invest in necessary and critical infrastructure across all modes of transport remained the strategic vision of the government. “Our infrastructure plan represents a bold, strategic and integrated platform to mobilise the state, private investors and the South African public behind a clearly articulated narrative of investment opportunities in South Africa,” he said. “We are very clear about our strategic vision and objective of playing our part in driving our country towards being a fully developed economy. It is common cause that no economy can thrive without developed road, rail, maritime and aviation infrastructure networks. We are however under no illusion about the magnitude of the challenges that remain.” He said one of these challenges was to attract investment into a number of areas including the maintenance of infrastructure and the provision of new infrastructure in both rural and urban areas of the country. “We have also realised that the demand for road and rail transport in particular far outstrips the capacity of government to fund these needs. In this regard, it is our view that infrastructure investment which has direct economic returns that can also be monitored in terms of cost recovery and profit should be seriously considered,” said Martins. Once again emphasising government’s intent to move cargo from road to rail, Martins said the comprehensive rail upgrade on which Transnet had embarked would place rail at the centre of freight movement. “The disproportionate nature of traffic between road and rail in freight has resulted in our roads experiencing serious damage and rapidly declining before the expected lifespan,” he said. “Due to under-investment in rail over a number of years, a huge burden has been placed on our roads, causing major traffic congestion in our cities.” INSERT ‘A major challenge is to attract investment into a number of areas including the maintenance of infrastructure and the provision of new infrastructure.’ CAPTION Ben Martins ... under no illusion about the magnitude of the challenges.