Old Mutual plans more investment in roads

Anglo American keen to help Transnet JAMES HALL A MAJOR investor in road transport infrastructure, Old Mutual, will step up support of public-private partnerships in such projects, Old Mutual asset manager Tom Plaistowe told FTW at the African Economics Editors Forum meeting in Johannesburg last week. “Our organisation is convinced of the merit of investing in infrastructure in South Africa. In five years, we went from next to nothing to R4 billion investment in infrastructure,” Plaistowe said. The South African government has seen on average R300 million in savings on every private toll road in South Africa, he said. “Before the N3 (connecting Gauteng with Durban) was a toll way, the trucking industry was getting a free service. Now the trucking industry is bearing the cost of the most vital transport route in the country,” said Plaistowe. With Old Mutual committed to similar public-private partnerships, the asset manager said what was essential was certainty in the regulatory environment. On the subject of rail infrastructure, Gavin Keeton, chief economist at Anglo American Corporation, told FTW at the editors’ meet that while gold transport was a relatively minor expense for the company, ineptitude on Transnet’s part was affecting mining profitability. “We have experience building private railways. We stand in a good position to offer assistance (to Transnet),” Keeton told FTW.