Q&A’s for the Transport Sector, 2010

Whether her department has identified key areas which will mostly be affected by Transnet’s project in the Northern Cape to contribute 54% of the province’s gross domestic product by 2018; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1388E

 

The study measured the impact on both the national and provincial economy of Transnet’s 2009/10 five-year R80bn infrastructural investment programme. The gross domestic product (GDP) impact on the national economy, once the full potential of this Transnet investment is realised in 2018, would be R113bn, and 576 000 employment opportunities would be created.

 

The macro-economic impact of Transnet investment programme has been measured in terms of:

 

·         the direct and indirect impacts that will occur in the transport and associated input supplier sectors, and the induced impact that will result from the payment of salaries and wages in the direct and indirect sectors throughout the broader economy;

·         the ‘spin off’ developmental impact that will occur in sectors that are highly dependent on Transnet’s transport infrastructure as a result of increased exports in these sectors due to the fact that additional export volumes can be handled by Transnet's upgraded and expanded capacity.

·         the impact of cost savings that will be generated as a result of a switch from higher-cost road transport to lower-cost rail transport, and

·         the impact of the cost savings that will be generated from the ability to channel additional imports through upgraded/expanded South African ports.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is important to recognise that the results of the Transnet macro-economic impact study reflect cumulative macro-economic contributions between 2008 and 2018, i.e. the value of cumulative additional GDP added between 2008 and 2018, the number of cumulative employment opportunities created between 2008 and 2018.

 

Transnet’s planned five-year investment from 2009/10 in rail infrastructure on the Sishen-Saldanha iron-ore line in the Northern Cape was R9bn. The Transnet macro-economic impact study found that the planned investment will contribute 54% to the Northern Cape GDP (calculated as the value of cumulative additional GDP added between 2008 and 2018 as a percentage of the 2008 Provincial GDP) and will create 57 463 employment opportunities in the province by 2018. The investment will increase the export of iron ore from South Africa from 47m tons per annum to 61m tons per annum by 2015.

 

The aforementioned investment in rail does not include the branch lines in the Northern Cape. These are the railway lines of Calvinia-Hutchinson, Belmont-Douglas and Upington-Kakamas. These branch lines will be concessioned to private sector operators in 2010/11 and further investment and employment opportunities may arise from concessioning.