The state-owned company wants the private sector to step in and help run South Africa’s most important rail container corridor, but its model may not be enticing enough to attract interest.
Transnet is having another stab at getting private-sector players to run its trains after a similar attempt flopped a few months ago.
Transnet’s largest division, Transnet Freight Rail, issued a request for qualification at the end of January, calling for interested private-sector players to bid for a 20-year lease to operate its rail container corridor between Johannesburg and Durban. The tender document reads: “The operating lease will provide for the required investment in the rehabilitation, upgrade and maintenance of the rail network and rolling stock assets, as well as the operations of the container corridor, which includes the Bayhead back-of-port terminal and defined inland terminals of City Deep, Kascon and Bayhead.
“Transnet has inherited problems with the corridor due to neglect and underinvestment by previous management, especially during the State Capture years. Cable theft and vandalism to the rail network can also be blamed,” says Havenga. “Transnet recognises that the Johannesburg-Durban corridor is important and requires major upgrades, but doesn’t have the money to fix it. So, they need the private sector’s help.”Like Eskom, Transnet has financial problems. It carries a debt of R127.
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