Bureaucracy has stalled a railway project aimed at making the notorious R573 Moloto road in Mpumalanga safer, the DA claimed on Monday (18 November).
Thousand of protesters block the Moloto Road during a mass demonstration about the high accident rate and the continuing deaths on this notorious route. Image: DWAF
"The Moloto railway project was approved [years ago] but because of bureaucratic red tape they still have not implemented it while our people are dying," Democratic Alliance Mpumalanga MPL James Masango said.
The project was initiated six years ago because at the moment more than 50,000 people commute to work along the narrow and potholed road using 600 buses each day.
Nearly 100 people had been killed and over 200 injured on the stretch of road between Siyabuswa and Pretoria since 2007. This includes the 30 people killed in last Monday's (11 November) accident in which a truck drove into the back of a tipper truck, before colliding with a Putco bus and a bakkie near Kwaggafontein.
The Moloto Rail Development Corridor programme, a 140km rail link, was one of the "Big Five" flagship programmes approved by the provincial executive in 2006 to grow the regional economy.
Project approved but nothing happens
In December 2007, the Mpumalanga roads and transport department announced that the Moloto programme would begin in January 2008. At the time, spokesman David Nkambule said the provincial executive council had approved the findings of an R11m feasibility study to develop both a road and rail link stretching from Mamelodi in Pretoria to Siyabuswa.
In March 2008, former head of national government communications Themba Maseko told Parliament the roads department was ready to start the project.
Jackson Mthembu, who was Mpumalanga roads and transport MEC at the time, said while presenting his 2008/09 budget to the legislature, that the first phase of the Moloto Rail Development Corridor was ready to be implemented.
"The primary section of the Moloto Rail Development Corridor is feasible in all respects and will be implemented as soon as possible. National Cabinet has approved the implementation of the project.
"The process of resettlement of the affected communities and the environmental impact assessment is expected to commence in the current financial year," Mthembu said at the time.
In June this year, the national transport department said in a report: "The feasibility study on the Moloto Corridor was still noted as an ongoing issue and the rail policy would be developed with an interim rail economic regulator established."
Parliament's transport portfolio committee chairwoman Ruth Bhengu said the railwaysl should be the backbone of transport in South Africa as it was a safer, more affordable, and faster for transporting commuters and freight.
On Sunday (17 November), hundreds of mourners, including Transport Minister Dipuo Peters, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza, and ANC deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte, attended a mass funeral service for those killed in last week's accident.
Source: Sapa via I-Net Bridge
