Sameera Casmod | sameerc@radioislam.co.za
03 October 2024 | 12:50 p.m. SAST
2-minute read

Image: Gautrain

The Automobile Association (AA) has raised concerns about the planned expansion of the Gautrain service- a project that Premier Panyaza Lesufi said last month will cost the province R120 billion over the next two years.

The Gautrain Management Agency is seeking to expand the existing network by an additional 149 kilometres of railway line and 19 new stations. The AA says the task is an excessive expense on a service that is already an economic failure and does not service the majority of Gauteng residents.

Speaking to Radio Islam International, spokesperson of the AA, Layton Beard, explained that the current ‘patronage guarantee’ system places additional financial strain on Gauteng taxpayers.

“We have the ‘patronage guarantee’ system in place, which is a compensation to the current concession holder, Bombela, for low ridership levels. If they don’t reach the projected targets of the number of riders on the current system, they get compensated financially by the Gauteng taxpayer through the Gauteng Provincial Government,” Beard said.

Over the last 12 years, the province has paid a sum of R20 billion to the Bombela Concession Company.

Although the project is expected to create more than 240 000 employment opportunities, the AA has expressed doubts about this figure, citing the failure to meet the projected target for Gautrain riders over the past 12 years. Additionally, the budget for the expansion can be used on other functions that could create the same number of jobs in the province.

As it stands, the Gauteng government is in a precarious financial position, with the Gauteng MEC for Finance, Lebogang Maile having warned that the provincial government is at risk of potential financial collapse by 2025. In this climate, the AA questions the prudence of investing R120 billion in expanding the Gautrain.

“If you’re already on the brink, why do you want to continue supporting a system that’s actually costing you money in the long run?” Beard questioned.

The AA is calling for the Gautrain Management Agency to terminate the project and to utilise the expansion budget to improve public transport in the province.

“[Gauteng residents] don’t have access to proper public transport and struggle on a daily basis to remain mobile. Gautrain is an elitist system. It’s an expensive system. It caters for people who are already mobile,” Beard said, citing large car parks that belong to Gautrain as evidence.

“There are millions of people who still walk to work because they have no alternative, and they have no money to fund public transport,” Beard added.

The solution, as proposed by the AA, is for the government to provide reliable, sustainable, affordable and safe public transport to Gauteng residents.

Listen to the full interview on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Habib Bobat.