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Pretoria - Government is worried about the availability of money for transport during the Fifa World Cup tournament, but there is no need to panic, said Deputy Minister of Transport Jeremy Cronin.
Cronin was responding to various businesspeople and interested parties who had told Sake24 about a scrambling to find money for shortfalls on capital projects as well as for transport operations for the World Cup.
This could cause untold frustration for the 450 000-odd visitors needing to move between airports and cities to stadiums.
Cronin declined to give details, but confirmed that there was ongoing consultation with National Treasury.
Sake24 however understands that Minister of Transport Sibusiso Ndebele, the provincial MECs for transport as well as representatives of the host cities, will soon be meeting to allocate funds for capital expenditure on rapid-transport bus services.
Cronin confirmed that this was under discussion and that at least two Metro councils - Tshwane and eThekwini - had underspent.
Rapid-transport bus services were supposed to establish better public urban transport as a legacy of the World Cup.
From various quarters Sake24 has learned that unused funds can be taken back from Tshwane to meet price increases for the rapid bus services in Johannesburg, Cape Town and the Nelson Mandela Bay metro in Port Elizabeth.
According to the payment schedule on the National Treasury's web page, in the current financial year R565m would have been paid over to Tshwane from the allowance for public transport infrastructure and systems. Of this, R360m has apparently already been given to Tshwane. But little has yet been done and Sake24 was able to establish that only the environmental impact study for the first stage had been completed.
There is also great concern regarding operating plans for the tournament, causing some to think panicking might be appropriate.
Eric Cornelius, chief executive of the South African Bus Operators Association (Saboa), said the training of bus drivers began only in December.
Noluvuyo Halana, spokesperson for Autopax, confirmed that this training has not yet been paid for. Autopax is part of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA.
Although Autopax has asked government for money, no allocation has yet been made. Autopax is apparently funding the training itself, but without assistance will find itself in a tight spot.
- Sake24.com
For more business news in Afrikaans, visit Sake24.com.