Transport
From The Report: South Africa 2012
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While South Africa’s infrastructure has held a comparative advantage over its neighbours, upgrades have become necessary for most categories of public infrastructure to maintain that edge. The country’s airports are routinely praised as the best in Africa, and there is no shortage of capacity after a recent round of upgrades in advance of the 2010 World Cup. South Africa has 747,000 km of roads and a functioning railway network. The 20,500-km rail network is managed by Transnet, which is working on a plan to overhaul the rail system. The port at Durban is the country’s largest, handling around 60% of traffic, however, the country’s sea ports are challenged by high costs and congestion.

This chapter contains interviews with Brian Molefe, CEO, Transnet; and Richard Branson, President, Virgin Atlantic.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Keeping up the momentum: Continued spending on infrastructure is in the pipeline as the government looks to tackle various issues
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Talk to a South African about the country’s transport infrastructure and you are likely to elicit complaints and hand-wringing over road delays, ageing railway cars, congested ports and rising fees at the airports. If something is not done about it soon, the popular sentiment goes, competition from other nations in Africa could cost the country investment and jobs. Talk to almost any other African, however, and you will hear a different story: in comparison to everywhere else on the continent,…

Interview

OBG talks to Brian Molefe, CEO, Transnet
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Interview:Brian Molefe How would you rate the current state of the rail infrastructure in South Africa? BRIAN MOLEFE: The sooner we are able to shift the transport of freight from road to rail the better, as it offers huge sustainable benefits for the economy. Rail is a much more efficient and a cheaper means of transport. Part of this is due to the fact that Transnet, over the past 10 years, has been dramatically restructured. In the past we directly managed passenger rail, the national…

Interview

OBG talks to Richard Branson, President, Virgin Atlantic
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Interview:Richard Branson Who are South Africa’s biggest competitors in terms of attracting European holidaymakers? RICHARD BRANSON: South Africa is a unique destination and one of my favourite countries to visit. I have always loved the country and have been touched by its rich and vibrant culture of warm and welcoming people. It has a beautiful and diverse landscape, and there are few places than can compete with it. However, right now, the UK government’s policy to increase tax on…

Analysis

Joined-up thinking: Rail and ports in sharper focus as spending plans are revised upwards
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Hosting the 2010 World Cup proved that building infrastructure quickly and efficiently is something South Africa can do. Airports got most of the attention in the run-up to the event, and now it is time for railways and ports to receive similar treatment, albeit without the deadline pressure. Transnet, the parastatal in charge of rail and ports, is embarking on a major capital expenditure plan. A total of R300bn ($37bn) is to be spent over the next seven years, with two-thirds going to rail.…