Metrorail chief executive Honey Mateya says the state urban rail transport authority backed concessioning of this sector “four or five years ago” but this had been put on hold by Transnet and the South African government to attend to backlogs.
Speaking to the Cape Town Press Club, Mateya said he was “not a maverick” but said government was not taking rail transport seriously enough. Referring to transport funding he said: “Even at government level people do not take rail seriously.”
He also questioned the issue of having to serve two bosses — both the Department of Transport and, as a state-owned enterprise, the Department of Public Enterprises.
Mateya argued that funding for the service should be channelled directly from the treasury rather than through public enterprises. Responsibility for rolling stock lay with the transport department through the South African Rail Commuter Corporation.
The chief executive said that “instead of using the word privatisation … I prefer to use the word concessioning”. He suspected that there could be changes after the next election — expected to take place early next year.
But he said Metrorail had argued that involving the private sector in rail transport would in fact provide necessary funds to make up backlogs in service provision.
There needed to be a shift in thinking from the view that the rail system was there to serve the poorest of the poor to one in which it should be convenient and serve a wider audience. “You get people in other countries that use a train despite the fact they are driving BMWs … it is possible that can be done.”
Mateya was earlier told by representatives of the United Transport and Allied Trade Union that urgent government intervention was needed to prevent a knock-on effect in the country’s rail system. It estimated that R160-billion was needed to replace or upgrade existing Metrorail rolling stock.
Mateya told the Press Club that Metrorail needed a long-term strategy. It could not just withdraw aging coaches as this would lead to passenger overcrowding. – I-Net Bridge