Long-delayed Gauteng Transport Authority to be launched in 2018

1st December 2017

By: Irma Venter

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

Font size: - +

The long-delayed Gauteng Transport Authority will launch next year, says Gauteng Transport MEC Dr Ismail Vadi.

“If a city does not want to participate, it does so at its own peril.”

Speaking at the Transport Forum, held in Johannesburg, he said that no city in Gauteng had the luxury to plan on its own.

“They need to work with provincial government. The African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA) – we have no choice but to collaborate.

“These little turf wars I see . . . I appeal to you, I may not be in office in 2019, but if we don’t work together, you will fail and the province will fail.”

He praised and criticised DA and ANC councils alike. Pretoria and Johannesburg are run by the DA and Ekurhuleni by the ANC.

A very candid Vadi said the provincial government was overwhelmed, with cities “even more overwhelmed”.

He said Gauteng faced a number of challenges that required the province and its three large metros to work together.

These challenges included large-scale in-migration from other provinces; low economic growth; high levels of unemployment; the must-do densification of the province; the establishment of a transport authority; and improved intergovernmental working relations.

“If we don’t address these challenges in the next three years, all the gains made through bus rapid transit (BRT) systems and the Gautrain will be lost.

“We are still planning for yesterday with our BRT systems.”

Vadi highlighted that the largest daily movement of people in the province was from Ekurhuleni to Johannesburg, at 120 000 to 150 000 people a day.

“You can build the best BRT, but it means nothing if you don’t talk to each other.”

Vadi said Gauteng would have another one-million residents within the next five years.

He questioned where these people would stay and how they would commute to work.

“It’s a plea from my heart. If we don’t work together, we’ll never solve the challenges that face us.”

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION