South Africa’s Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, recently addressed the Metals and Engineering Industry Ministerial Conference, where she emphasised the need for a Transnet War Room. According to the Minister, this is necessary, “to intensify the recovery programme and to ensure that we have better integration of the private sector players that are helping us, and the different aspects of Transnet that work on the logistics value chain.”
The Transnet War Room was agreed upon during the company’s recent AGM and it is intended that “daily meetings with all representatives will be held under the Chief Operations Officer.” Creecy stated, “Transnet is not going to be able under current conditions to recover on its own. And we need an industry-wide collaboration in order that we can take forward the recovery.”
She also noted that the Department of Transport is working on the Private Sector Participation (PSP) framework and that a PSP unit will be set up under the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). The unit is expected to help the department “learn from the kinds of reforms that we had in the electricity sector” to ensure that “when there is appetite to participate in the logistics sector, we’re able to take these particular bids to financial close.”
At the core of this reform programme is the Transnet Network Statement, which has already been released for public participation. Creecy hopes that the final version will be published by the end of the year. This document will help the private sector understand the opportunities for participation, including tariff structures and potential agreements such as Build, Operate and Transfer.
Creecy also highlighted the need for a balanced tariff system that attracts third-party players while supporting Transnet’s revenue requirements. This balancing act aims to produce a Network Statement that appeals to private sector participants while addressing Transnet’s institutional needs.
You can read the full remarks from Minister Creecy here: https://www.gov.za//news/speec...
