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Transport Minister Jeff Radebe says his department has established a committee to oversee the improvement of the country's public transport system ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Radebe was speaking yesterday morning during the Parliamentary Media Briefing Week.

He said public transport was a critical input factor in the South African economy, however, experience showed that rail passenger transport was haphazard and offered low service standards.

"The major impediment to trade and investment in our economy is the problem of significant operational problems caused by bottlenecks in the system.

"The rail system is unreliable, the road freight system is under enormous pressure and our ports suffer from poor throughput," the minister said.

Radebe said the lack of point-to-point infrastructure as well as outdated managerial and operational systems were amongst other things that needed to be addressed.

He therefore said the Gauteng-KwaZulu Natal corridor had been identified as an important pilot project after which attention would then be paid to the Cape Town-BeitBridge and the Gauteng-TransKalahari corridors.

"In the process of developing these corridors, we will not neglect other important corridor investments, such as the Sishen-Ngqura development, those associated with spatial development," he said.

Radebe said there were plans to develop a strategy to link public transport considerations as well as the extended public works programme where rural roads were major initiatives and community development projects.

"This requires speeding up earlier plans to revitalise and re-open marginal railway lines to encourage local development.

"Some of these will use the current Umtata-AmaBele/East London line upgrade as a pilot study," he said.

Radebe said his department would continue with other programmes including the promotion of road transport safety, aviation and maritime transport issues. - BuaNews

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