[miningmx.com] – TRANSNET Freight Rail (TFR) would be given R200bn
to develop rail, especially in the Limpopo province, nearly doubling the business unit’s
current capital budget of R110bn.
Transnet CEO, Brian Molefe, hinted last year that a massive leap in the budget of its
freight business was due in order to accommodate a 23 million tonne per year (Mtpa)
first-phase expansion and greenfields development of a rail through Limpopo
province.
Speaking in his annual State of the Nation address, President Jacob Zuma said
Transnet would spend R300bn over seven years, of which R200bn would be for rail.
This was to link coal mines in Limpopo province to power stations in that province
and Mpumalanga province.
Zuma also confirmed that the iron ore line that links Sishen to Saldanha Bay would be
increased to about 80 Mtpa from the current 61 Mtpa. A manganese corridor
delivering the metal to Coega, where it would be beneficiated, would also be
developed. In a separate development, some R248m would be set aside to counter
the effects of acid mine drainage in the Witwatersrand.
