The R230-million Gautrain tunnel-boring machine has been christened ”Imbokodo [Rock]”, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said in Johannesburg on Thursday.
Shilowa said the name symbolises the country’s heritage of willpower and women’s emancipation.
”If you strike a woman, you strike a rock,” he said. ”Gautrain has reached a point of no return. The TBM [tunnel-boring machine] will help us move faster towards our goal.”
The machine was designed by Bombela’s partner Bouygues Travaux Publics in cooperation with German manufacturer Herrenknecht.
”We are continuing towards the completion of the Gautrain and the TBM will speed up construction and enable us to finish within the time and the budget,” Shilowa said.
According to Shilowa, the project received overwhelming support from the public in a perception survey.
He said: ”Seventy-five percent of the public believe the Gautrain will transform transport. The Gautrain has also created 5 400 jobs, with 3 400 of these [filled by] workers from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. By the end of the 2008 financial year, more jobs will be created and workers will be skilled in engineering and construction.”
R440-million has been injected into the economy through the project’s purchase of South African materials, goods and services, which will accelerate economic growth.
More than R7-billion has been spent on the Gautrain to date.
Jack van der Merwe, CEO of the Gautrain Management Agency, said the machine will start boring the underground portals in January and will be in operation 24 hours a day.
”This is the first machine of its kind in South Africa — the TBM will start boring at Rosebank station and move towards Park station,” Van der Merwe said.
”The TBM is 160m in length with a combined weight of 865 tonnes. This is only half of the machine and once boring begins, we will install the other half,” he said. — Sapa