• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

SOUTH AFRICA: High-Speed Train Project Back on Track

Posted on: Thursday, 13 October 2005, 09:01 CDT

By Nevin, Tom

The high-speed urban train project, designed to move commuters around the grid-locked Johannesburg-Tshwane (formerly Pretoria) axis, has finally been awarded to a consortium. The question, asks Tom Nevin, is whether there is still enough time to complete the project before the 2010 World Cup?

For a moment, it appeared that plans to introduce South Africa's first high-speed passenger train service had derailed. First mooted four years ago by the premier of Gauteng province, Mbhazima Shilowa, the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link inauguration sights were set on 2009, a year before kick-off of the South African-hosted soccer World Cup.

It is a critical component in moving fans between principal venues and a South African showcase for millions of football fans to admire. But when deadline after deadline passed for the naming of the winning bidder, the spaceage commuter system was all but written off as a non-starter.

Then, on 2 July, Shilowa announced the consortium that will build and operate the service.

Although the provincial government has not yet disclosed how much the new service will cost, industry guesses run as high as R14bn ($2.2bn), double the cost estimated at the outset of the project. All Paul Mashatile, Gauteng provincial finance minister, would say was that "we have set aside R900m for the Gautrain Project in the current (2005/06) financial year. Treasury has given us affordability limits and it would be premature to announce any cost as this would seriously jeopardise the next phase of the procurement process. The final contract amount will be within the affordability limit as set out in the Treasury authorisation."

Gautrain project CEO, Jack van der Merwe believes mass rapid transport systems will spur economic activity.

Brian Bruce, leader of the winning Bombela Consortium, is also playing mum on the what the taxpayer will have to fork out for the spectacular project, although few will object to any way of beating the province's grinding and increasingly desperate traffic conditions crammed with vehicles on roads long since past their capacity to carry them.

The deal, referred to by Shilowa as "the biggest public-private partnership yet tackled in South Africa and indeed in Africa", will see the Bombela consortium Owning' the project under a 19V2-year concession that consists of 4Vi years of construction followed by a 15-year operating period.

Gautrain consists of an 80km rail system linking Johannesburg, Sandton, Tshwane (formerly Pretoria) and Johannesburg International Airport. The project is to be implemented as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) and includes financing, design-build, operation and maintenance. It will be transferred to the Gauteng Provincial Government at the end of the concession period.

Apart from linking high-volume commuter nodes, the spaceage system is designed to stimulate the economic growth of the corridors by easing traffic congestion in future years.

The train will arrive at a time of growing road transport congestion created by a hiatus in road building and upgrading, and exacerbated by squabbling amongst local, provincial and national transport departments over who is responsible for the region's roads.

Is there enough time?

The N1 road between Johannesburg and Tshwane is virtually in permanent gridlock. "One of the greatest distorters of urban economic growth and urban planning is traffic congestion," says the project's CEO Jack van der Merwe. "The investment in a mass rapid transport system of this nature at this time is a long-term measure to ensure that future growth is unhindered and to encourage economic activity and urban densification along the crucial northsouth and east-west axes."

Besides the tangible benefits of reducing congestion, improving accessibility and mobility, assisting tourism, promoting the use of public transport and reducing pollution, the Gautrain is seen as a key element in improving economies of urbanisation, increasing productivity and improving the conduciveness of the local economic environment.

The announcement of the winning bidder followed warnings by opposition party transport spokesman, James Swart, that the government was running out of time to complete the Gautrain project in time for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

"The ongoing delays in getting the project off the ground has left the provincial government with only four years to complete the project before the 2010 soccer World Cup," Swart charged. He said the government's failure to first address basic infrastructure and public transport needs would lead to further chronic road congestion as hundreds of construction and delivery vehicles took to the highways and city streets, and thousands of new workers struggled to get to work.

The Gautrain will have a key role in transporting World Cup fans in 2010.

"Considering that the Gautrain will be constructed over a distance of 80km with 10 stations, some upgraded and some newlybuilt, parking garages, and extensive road infrastructure upgrades to make the stations accessible, it seems highly unlikely that the Gautrain project will be completed in time," Swart said.

Minister Mashetile, doesn't agree. "The Gautrain Rapid Rail Link is on track despite some delays in announcing the successful bidder," he insists. "The scope of the project is such that highly complex technical aspects and financial modelling have to be properly scrutinised to ensure appropriate recommendations."

He goes on to point out that although the Gautrain is a project of the Gauteng provincial government, it is also of national significance. "It signifies our commitment to improve public transport, changing its image and making it a mode of choice," and went on to promise "the creation of a commuter service that will put us on par with the rest of the great cities of the world."

Describing the Gautrain Project as one of the largest and probably most exciting transportation projects in South Africa today, Shilowa says it will play an important role in stimulating economic growth, in relieving traffic congestion, in promoting public transport, tourism and public-private partnerships and in changing the culture of public transport usage in South Africa. "Above all it will be responsible for creating 148,000 jobs," he says.

For Andrew Shaw, transport policy analyst at the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Gautrain Project is significant for a number of good reasons.

"The reality of similar ventures elsewhere is that such investments, despite their considerable cost, have a profound effect on the functioning of the urban space in which they operate. There is little doubt that future congestion and almost complete private car reliance will begin to threaten the social and economic functioning of the province, and Gautrain offers an alternative to this.

"The investment also creates, for the first time, a quality public transport system. One may argue about whether funds may have been better spent on enhancing existing commuter rail or improving the bus service or supporting the recapitalisation of the minibus industry.

"But the Gautrain is a quantum leap in thinking. It might be the investment in public transport that leads more by example than by actually changing the status quo. If it works, it may be the most beneficial project yet in South Africa's transport sector."

BOMBELA CONSORTIUM

The winning bidder

The Bombela Consortium is a partnership between Bombardier Transportation, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Murray & Roberts, the Loliwe companies and RATP Dveloppement.

It is 50% owned by its international partners and 50% by Murray & Roberts and the Loliwe companies of South Africa - the latter representing Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) participation led by the Black Management Forum Investment Company (BMFI).

Bombela has offered an innovative structure that will facilitate the funding of BEE participation by leveraging off BEE operating profits.

The electrical and mechanical system represents approximately 35% of the design-build contract and will be delivered by:

* Bombardier, the world leader in the design and supply of complete transit systems and concession solutions; and Loliwe Rail Express, a new BEE company whose membership includes PropS Corporation.

The Bombela solution features Bombardier's highly successful Electrostar train system, which will be assembled in South Africa by The UCW Partnership, a BEE Murray & Roberts subsidiary.

The infrastructure works design-build contract will be delivered by: Bouygues Travaux Publics, a global leader in the construction industry and international specialist in tunnelling; Murray & Roberts, the South African leader in large-scale engineering and construction projects; and Loliwe Rail Contractors, a Gauteng company which consists of leading BEE contractors including Blackstone, ZMK Construction, Biyana, Realeka, LET Property Developers, Powerhouse and Tiespro. The latter has been specifically established for participation of women in construction.

Copyright International Communications Oct 2005

Source: African Business

More News in this Category