Transnet washes hands of BR �scandal�
Brian Benza | Thursday March 24, 2016 18:00
Speaking to BusinessWeek at the launch of the new train on Tuesday, Transnet Engineering Chief Executive, Thamsanqa Jiyane said were it not for the peculiar designs that BR requested on the coaches, Transnet would have completed and delivered the coaches by January this year. “We have seen reports that Transnet bought the coaches in China while others alleged we repainted old coaches and delivered to Botswana. That is all not true. But we can understand the interest in this matter as it has emerged these allegations originated from a competitor who lost in the bidding process,” he said.
Transnet was contracted to manufacture the 37 coaches for R250 million (P180 million) last July and delivered the first batch of 22 on Tuesday.
The state-owned South African company says it plans to deliver the remaining 15 coaches by May this year.
In the past weeks, there has been a widespread circulation of reports about the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) raiding BR offices as part of an investigation related to the Transnet tender. “We also understand there are now reports of irregularities in the process that took place within Botswana Railways, but unfortunately we cannot comment on that since it’s their own internal matter. It has nothing to do with us,” he said.
Botswana is the first country to order passenger coaches from Transnet whose business has previously been focused on building coaches for South Africa’s Blue Train as well as wagons and locomotives for other customers.
According to Jiyane, they managed to deliver the Botswana project in a short period of time as different components of the 22 coaches were manufactured at six Transnet’s plants across South Africa with the final assembling done at their Koedoespoort and Salt River facilities. “Botswana Railways was involved in every step of the manufacturing.
They visited us once every week to satisfy themselves with the process. We have such massive capacity in Transnet in over six plants across South Africa.
We could have delivered the product in less than six months were it not for Botswana Railways specific requirements such as the arrangements of the seats,” he said.
The new train, which is making a come back after it was discontinued in 2009, boasts state of the art features including, air conditioning, business boardrooms, TV sets, Wi-Fi and luxurious sleeper rooms.