The Gauteng government is running out of time to complete the Gautrain project in time for the 2010 World Cup, DA spokesperson for Transport Roads and Works James Swart warned on the eve of the Africa Rail Summit in Johannesburg.

"The ongoing delays in getting the project off the ground has left the Provincial government with only four years to complete the project before the 2010 World Cup and they haven?t even announced the preferred bidder yet," Swart said.

Swart referred to the Petronas twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur to illustrate his concern. He said the Petronas twin Towers were each 451 meters tall and took two consortia nearly six years to complete.

"This was achieved by a highly motivated and productive workforce, all working on one site. Considering that the Gautrain will be constructed over a distance of 80 kilometres with ten stations, some upgraded and some newly-built, parking garages, and extensive road infrastructure upgrades to make the stations accessible, it seems highly unlikely that the Gautrain project will be completed in time" Swart said.

Swart also warned that the Governments failure to first address basic infrastructure and public transport needs would lead to further chronic road congestion as hundreds of construction and delivery vehicles took to the highways and city streets, and thousands of new workers struggled to get to work.

"During 2008 FIFA will be conducting an infrastructure evaluation before giving the final green light for South Africa to host the Soccer World Cup. I suspect they will then discover what millions in South Africa already know. This Government is not delivering" Swart said.

Source: Money Web

blog comments powered by Disqus