President Cyril Ramaphosa / cogta.gov.za
Yesterday, I said there are three very simple things President Ramaphosa can do today that will immediately give an uptick to our economy:
- Let SAA fail
- Take the money that would be spent on SAA and use it to upgrade Metrorail rolling stock and stations
- Hand over control of Metrorail to the municipalities of Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban
Here's what he said in the State of the Nation address:
A key priority this year is to fix commuter rail, which is vital to the economy and to the quality of life of our people.
Our rail network daily transports over a million commuters to and from work.
We are modernising PRASA’s rail network.
The Central Line in the Western Cape and the Mabopane Line in Pretoria have been closed for essential refurbishment and upgrades.
We are investing R1.4 billion in each of these lines to provide, a safe, reliable and affordable service.
Work underway on other lines includes station upgrades, parkway replacements, new signalling systems and overhead electrical traction upgrades.
I think that's close enough for now. Dum spiro spero.
