Urgent need for private sector investment in South Africas transport infrastructure

Show Voice Options Transport Minister Barbara Creecy said South Africas economic outlook faces significant risks, including domestic constraints and global uncertainties. She noted that state-owned entities operate in a challenging environment, and “this will require leadership and foresight that prioritise the interests of our country and its people.” Creecy delivered this during her budget vote debate, laying out a broad and ambitious reform programme for logistics, freight, aviation, and passenger transport, to be executed over the next four years. Creecy emphasised that the effective implementation of reforms is vital to boost growth and employment. She highlighted that six clear targets will guide progress. “The first is to ensure that by 2029, 250 million tonnes of freight are carried on the Transnet network,” she said. Other key goals include improving cargo handling at ports to the international benchmark of 30 gross crane moves per hour, achieving 600 million passenger rail journeys by 2030, and moving 42 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of air freight through the ACSA network. On road safety, she said: “We aim to reduce road fatalities by 40% by 2029, so we reach the UN target of halving road accidents by 2030.” Central to the plan is rail reform, with Creecy confirming that by the end of May 2025, PRASA had successfully revitalised 35 out of 40 corridors and sections of service lines, aiming for an ambitious target of 116 million passenger journeys in the current financial year. Funding and competitive pricing are central to expanding PRASAs offerings, with R66.1 billion allocated over the medium term for infrastructure recovery, signalling upgrades, and new trainsets. On the freight side, Creecy noted that the White Paper on National Rail Policy and the National Freight Logistics Roadmap will guide transformation. “Strategic infrastructure, such as rail and ports, will remain in public ownership as assets belonging to the South African people,” she stressed. She noted that the private sector participation is being formalised through the PSP framework approved by Cabinet in 2023. Transnet will begin issuing procurement requests in August, supported by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Development Bank and National Treasury, she said. This includes the creation of an Interim Rail Economic Regulatory Capacity and open access to the rail network to allow third-party operators, which she said will “improve network utilisation, increase competition and reduce costs.”