Msunduzi faces backlash over failed billion rand public transport project

AFTER one billion rand was spent, six kilometres of highway is all that the Msunduzi Municipality has to show of a bus rapid transport system project that the National Treasury is now considering shutting down.

- THAMI MAGUBANE [e-mail]

The work completed, city councillors have said, constitutes about 20% of the work that should have been done in a project that started 10 years ago.

The Integrated Public Transport Network System (IPTNS) programme, otherwise known as the BRT (bus rapid transport) system, was meant to create fast and reliable public transport in the Pietermaritzburg area and is now on the verge of becoming a white elephant.

The revelations on the perilous state of the project have angered ratepayers and councillors who said those who failed to deliver should be held accountable.

The national committee on Transport visited the city this week and stated that the national Department of Transport has ordered the winding down of the Msunduzi project.

Chairperson, Donald Selamolela, expressed that the successful implementation of the programme had the potential to be a catalyst for economic growth and job creation. “The programme, otherwise knownas the BRT system, should not have failed, especially after so much money had already been spent. This programme ought not only to have benefited commuters but should have provided employment opportunities for our people.