Rail green paper delayed

The public release of the draft
green paper on rail transport
and the planned October 24
round-table meeting of all
stakeholders to discuss the
paper have both been put on
hold, with the cabinet not yet
having had the paper from
the minister of transport,
Ben Martins, for signing,
according to Jan-David de
Villiers, chief director of
public transport in the DoT.
At the time we talked to
De Villiers (November 16),
he hoped that this procedure
would be conducted this week.
Meantime, he added, a
round-table meeting would
have been pointless, and that
has been delayed until the
paper is finally signed and
sealed for public presentation.
A bit of a battle has also
been reported to be going on
between the DoT and Transnet
about what is believed to be
part of the content of the draft
paper, and that is the future
involvement of the private
sector in rail operation.
At issue was the proposal
to split Transnet’s freight
business into two entities: a
network operator and separate
network customer.
The DoT apparently made
the case that such a system
was being implemented
worldwide. It is believed that
the system would, among
other things, allow competing
train services to operate on a
single track.
But, although much of
the rail network is unused,
Transnet does not appear to
be keen on outsourcing any
part of what it believes is its
exclusive domain.
Transnet CEO Brian
Molefe has been reported as
describing such a move as
“disastrous” and felt it would
threaten Transnet’s ability
to raise capital on the bond
markets.
Most likely the problem
that puts its search for capital
at risk is that its income is
dominated by the steel line
from Sishen to Saldanha
and the coal line from
Mpumalanga to Richards Bay.
It is a fair bet that these two
operations are the cash-cows
which feed the rest of SA’s
rail network – and the private
sector getting its paws on them
would raise red figures all
over Transnet’s balance sheet.
It would also appear that the
hard-bitten Transnet objections
are supported by minister of
public enterprises, Malusi
Gigaba.
Recent press reports have
said that he has spoken out
aggressively against the notion
of private-sector involvement
in transport infrastructure – an
objection based on the belief
that this would undermine
the government’s plan for a
“developmental state”.
Whether his and Transnet’s
arguments are heeded, or the
DoT rejects them, will only be
revealed when the draft green
paper is finally put before
public scrutiny.