Private investors boarding

MINISTER CREECY: TRANSNET TO BEGIN FORMAL PROCUREMENT PROCESS NEXT MONTH

- Roy Cokayne

Private sector investment in Transnet's five priority rail and port corridors appears to be imminent. Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy confirmed on Monday that the department of transport has just concluded a request for information (RFI) process to guide private sector investment in these five corridors.

In an address to the Southern African Transport Conference, Creecy stressed the limited availability of state resources to fund infrastructure development makes private sector investment critical.

Excellent response Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Creecy said South Africa's rail infrastructure has not had a major revamp, nor has the rail system been expanded since the 1970s.

"We have put out these requests for information to see what the appetite is. We had an excellent response. There were almost 163 submissions," she said.

"We are now processing those submissions so Transnet can begin the formal procurement process at the end of August 2025 through the issue of Requests for Proposals (RFPs)."

Creecy told the conference the department has concluded a memorandum of agreement with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and National Treasury, appointing DBSA as the hosting institution for the new Private Sector Participation Unit.

Rail initiatives She said the department will, at the end of July 2025, release the second batch of RFIs, which will be focused on passenger rail initiatives.