Cape Town - The implementation of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) was not critical to 2010 Fifa World Cup preparations as the soccer organisation was not prescriptive on modes of transport, director-general of the national transport department Mpumi Mpofu said on Wednesday.
Speaking to the government's transport portfolio committee, Mpofu said the BRT - a rail-like bus system in which a protected lane is created in the country's inner city and arterial roads -would be "up and running" in the main centres such as Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Mpofu declared government had "no sense that there is a real hold-up on the BRT process" and that Johannesburg was on track to have it up and running by September.
Negotiations between government and unions representing South Africa's vibrant taxi industry - which believes the BRT is not a workable solution - are continuing.
Mpofu declined to provide details about the negotiations between taxi operators and government in what has been dubbed the National Joint Working Group (NJWG).
She said it would be "imprudent" to divulge details until NJWG talks had been resolved. She did, however, refer to the fact that the negotiations focus on how the taxi industry was going to benefit from the system.
The BRT was supposed to be in action for the Confederations Cup, a trial run for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, held in June. However, it was halted to allow the taxi industry to voice its concerns. Among these is an objection that it had not been properly consulted on the BRT in the first place.
"I want to confirm that the Fifa Bid Book... doesn't prescribe to South Africa how these [transporation] targets have to be met," Mpofu told the committee.
While Fifa has flagged inadequate transport for the 2010 event, the world body merely expects South Africa to move "categories of people" regardless of transport method, said Mpofu. "The transport plans are entirely our responsibility.
"If we choose to move people from Oliver Tambo Airport to the stadium using a train, that is our target. But if we changed our minds and moved them by bus that is also our target," she said.
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"We aren't bound by modes and types of interventions. We are bound by ability to meeting targets of moving people,?" said Mpofu. She referred to the Confederations Cup as proof that the country was able to step up to the plate.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter identified transport as a priority for South Africa's Fifa World Cup preparations after shortcomings in the Confederations Cup. "We know that in logistics, we will have to work on it, but specifically you will have to work on it," Blatter said.
"We have no sense of where we sit as a department that there is a hold-up in this process. Far from it, we are confident about the outcome," said Mpofu.
- Fin24.com