The Ekurhuleni metro has responded to claims that the R2-billion Ekurhuleni Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) Harambee bus system is a white elephant.
The DoT told the city that it needs to scale up to a proper operation of at least 40 buses in 2019 or risk the department invoking the Division of Revenue Act’s (DORA) powers to withhold transfers.
READ STORY: Ekurhuleni R2-billion BRT labelled a white elephant
This comes after a parliamentary response by Transport Minister Blade Nzimande, that the BRT Harambee has been launched prematurely.
This was revealed in parliament during a question asked by Mike Waters MP, DA deputy chief whip in the National Assembly, about the Ekurhuleni BRT system.
According to Themba Gadebe, metro spokesperson, the City of Ekurhuleni introduced the starter service as a pilot phase with the intention of expanding the services with additional buses.
“The expansion of the service was planned for 40 buses and subsequently 80 buses in 2019. The City remains committed to its plan to operate at least 40 buses during the 2019 calender year.
“Phase 1 (Tembisa to Vosloorus), when fully operational, is anticipated to carry more than a 100 000 weekday passenger trips.
“The figure is based on the travel demand model and the household travel surveys conducted,” said Gadebe.
Gadebe said the metro has acknowledged the high costs of the level of infrastructure and thus has taken a stance to operate and build only the required infrastructure.
“As such a scaled-down approach has been adopted by the City, the next stage of Phase 1 is being planned with reduced infrastructure. This will therefore enable earlier implementation of future phases. The City hereby confirms DoT’s estimates as accurate.
“The Harambee system is already operational and gaining traction, with commitments in place such as the procurement of buses, and, therefore, a zero-based budget approach will be detrimental to the project at this stage,” he said.
Gadebe said the metro is not aware of a final warning issued. However, action plans are in place and are being implemented to ensure achievement of set milestones as submitted and presented to DoT.
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