/ 7 June 2007

Gauteng monorail issue with transport minister ‘sorted’

There was no malice in the announcement made about a proposal to establish a monorail in Gauteng, nor in the oversight in not consulting with Transport Minister Jeff Radebe, the Gauteng Executive Council found on Thursday.

This was after the council received a report on the matter from Gauteng provincial minister for public transport Ignatius Jacobs and provincial minister for finance Paul Mashatile on Thursday morning, said spokesperson Annette Griessel.

”The two parties had not deliberately ignored to inform the minister before making the Monorail announcement publicly.

”That has since been sorted and the executive has expressed its satisfaction with the discussions held with the minister following the misunderstanding.”

She said further work was to be undertaken on the Monorail proposal, including a development on the ”business case of the project”, which would later be presented to the minister.

Discussions on the possible integration of monorail projects as part of the broader public transport system and integrated transport plan for the Gauteng region were also in the pipeline, she said.

”The Gautrain political committee has been tasked with addressing these matters over the next few months.”

Radebe’s spokesperson, Collen Msibi, said: ”We are happy with the way things are being handled but we are currently waiting for them to come back with a new business case.” — Sapa