New project targets Kaserne inefficiency

Plans to improve accessibility Anna Cox A COMPARATIVE analysis conducted by the City of Johannesburg shows that it takes as long for an auto part to travel from Durban to Kaserne as it takes for the same part to be transported from Germany to Durban. The city is now embarking on several projects to improve economic growth, one of which is to improve conditions at the Kaserne dry port at City Deep which is the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere. It has found that inefficiencies at the port end are having a negative impact on the business activities in the city and the province as a whole. It also found that the transport supply chain from Durban to Kaserne was inefficient. The city, in collaboration with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Gauteng Provincial Administration, is now looking at factors which are negatively contributing to the inefficiencies of the port with a view to opening up potential trade beyond the borders of the city and South Africa. A project team has been appointed and will be looking at road infrastructure, services and secondary industries that could grow around it. It is facilitating a process that will sorts out basic issues such as infrastructure, customs, the logistics link between Johannesburg and Durban, and improved technology so containers can be properly tracked and efficiently handled to encourage use of the port. The council will be assessing the possibility of improving accessibility to Kaserne which, at present, is only accessible by road. It may enter talks with mining houses which own the dumps alongside the port to facilitate greater land rehabilitation and use. Other projects which the city is planning to improve the economy include the establishment of a ‘special purpose vehicle’ or agency, funded by the city, to search the world for potential international conferences and events and to make representation to the organisers to consider Johannesburg as a venue.