South Africa

South Africa

Adopts the Rail Private Sector Participation Framework

08 Dec 2023

On 8 December 2023, the Cabinet approved the Rail Private Sector Participation Framework, which aims to provide an interim approach to and a model for future decision-making to enable private sector participation in the railway infrastructure system. Given the current challenges within the railway infrastructure, the Framework proposes commencement of private sector participation through opportunities that are aimed at fixing the railway infrastructure first.

The Framework recommended the adoption of the cooperative governance and integrated approach to rail private sector participation for implementation. This approach will require the Private Sector Participation (PSP) unit within the Department of Transport and the Rail SOC to publish a network statement for endorsement by the Rail Economic Regulatory Capacity (interim). With the approval of the Framework, the Department of Transport will establish a PSP unit that will identify and prioritise projects and develop an implementation plan to facilitate PSP initiatives.