Zuma wants to get wheels turning

Extensive rail and road
infrastructure upgrades
designed to improve
the flow of trade were
promised by president
Jacob Zuma in his State
of the Nation address last
Thursday.
These include an
integrated road and water
infrastructure centred
around two main areas in
Limpopo – the Waterberg
in the Western part of the
province and Steelpoort in
the eastern part.
“These efforts are
intended to unlock the
enormous mineral belt of
coal, platinum, palladium,
chrome and other minerals,
in order to facilitate
increased mining as well as
stepped-up beneficiation of
minerals,” he said.
“Using the developments
in Limpopo as a base, we
will expand rail transport
in Mpumalanga, connecting
coalfields to power stations.
“This will enable us to
decisively shift from road
to rail in the transportation
of coal, which has caused a
deterioration of the roads in
Mpumalanga.”
The eastern parts of
the North West province
will also benefit from
the greater focus on
infrastructure connected
to mining and mineral
beneficiation, according to
Zuma.
Another promise is to
“improve the movement
of goods and economic
integration through a
Durban-Free State-Gauteng
logistics and industrial
corridor.
“This project is
intended to connect the
major economic centres
of Gauteng and Durban/
Pinetown, and at the same
time connect these centres
with improved export
capacity through our seaports”.
According to Zuma,
Transnet has budgeted
R300 bn over the
next seven years
for these capital
projects.
Of this,
R200 bn is
allocated to rail
projects, and
the bulk of
the balance to
projects in the
ports.
Amongst the list of
planned projects is the
expansion of the Iron
Ore Export channel
from 60 million tons a
year to 82 million tons
a year, improvements
to the Durban-Gauteng
rail corridor, and the
phased development
of a 16-million-tons-ayear
manganese export
channel through the Port of
Ngqura.
After his meeting with
motor industry bosses
in the Eastern Cape
earlier this year, Zuma
said Transnet would
be forfeiting around
R1-billion in port charges
over the next year in order
to support manufactured
exports.
Zuma also announced
a “major” South Eastern
node “that will improve the
industrial and agricultural
development and export
capacity of the Eastern
Cape region, and expand
the province’s economic
and logistics linkages with
the Northern Cape and
KwaZulu-Natal”.
Ten priority roads
will be upgraded in the
North West as part of
the investment in road,
rail, water and electricity
infrastructure.
Plans for the West Coast
include the expansion
of the iron-ore rail line
between Sishen in Northern
Cape and Saldanha Bay to
increase capacity to 100
million tons a year.