Plans are afoot to create a new inland
port in northern Pretoria in a public/
private partnership deal.
According to the Gauteng Growth
& Development Agency (GGDA) CEO,
Saki Zamxaka, the agency has been
approached to help with this scheme –
designed, he added, to alleviate some
of the congestion in the southern and
eastern regions of Gauteng.
Although FTW contacted
Zamxaka’s office for his comments
on the economic feasibility of this
proposed project, we are still awaiting
a return call. However, background
research would seem to indicate that
there is certainly some logic behind the
proposal.
A particular characteristic of
economic activity across SA, and across
the globe, is its density. Geographically,
economic activity tends to be unequally
distributed and concentrated. In SA,
70% of gross domestic product (GDP)
is produced in only 20% of places.
What makes the local case more
interesting is that 37% of GDP and
60% of exports originate in cities
in the landlocked Gauteng province
(Regional Economic Explorer, 2006).
So certainly demand is there. And,
on the supply side, there is certainly
a shortage of dry ports able to handle
international traffic.
Indeed, at present, there is
only one – at City Deep in central
Johannesburg.
The other five inland terminals
handle only domestic traffic. But train
and truck congestion within City
Deep is an everyday phenomenon,
and alternative inland ports would
definitely take some pressure off this
overcrowded facility.
Transnet issued a request in late.
May for proposals from global logistics
service providers to design, build,
operate, maintain and, in 20-years’
time, to hand over its proposed inland
container terminal in Tambo Springs.
Situated about 37 kilometres east
of Johannesburg, this would be able
to supply part of the
needs of the Jo’burg-
Germiston-Boksburg-
Benoni-Springs
industrial/commercial
belt.
But that still leaves the
Pretoria region dry of a
dry port. And it’s a pretty
important industrial area
in its own right, with main industries
including iron and steel works, copper
casting, and the manufacture of
automobiles, railway carriages and
heavy machinery.
With about 98% of the volumes
of SA’s exports being conveyed
by sea, and with that 60% of
these coming from Gauteng,
this is another indicator of
demand for an inland port in
the Pretoria region.
INSERT & CAPTION
The scheme is designed
to alleviate some of
the congestion in the
southern and eastern
regions of Gauteng.
– Saki Zamxaka
Pretoria inland port planned
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