Spoornet's sorry saga

摘要

Two and a half years after Spoornet and its consortium partner announced they would spend 100m dollars on fixing up the Maputo railway line guess what? Nothing has happened. Not one cent has as yet been spent on repairing and upgrading the stretch of line between the Mocambique capital and the South African border at Ressano Garcia which continues to deteriorate. Reports - confirmed by Spoornet - are that there have been six derailments in six weeks on this 88km-long stretch of the line which runs through to Witbank on the SA side. That's the kind of non-performance by Spoornet - and its parent parastatal organisation Transnet - which has the coal exporters using Maputo tearing their hair out. Spoornet has shown itself to be long on policy and showmanship but short on delivery. Spoornet transported a host of VIPS to Maputo on the luxury Blue Train in February 2002 when the deal to revamp the line with consortium partner New Limpopo Bridge Projects Investments (NLPI) was announced.