Prasa puts blame for bungles on lack of skills
DELAYED projects, the wastage of funds and an inability to sustain infrastructure are some of the consequences of a woeful lack of highly skilled personnel in SA, despite huge budgets provided by the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) and Transnet, among others.
This is according to Prasa project manager Rudzani Mulaudzi, who also said projects often did not deliver the intended value as those responsible were willing but “not fully capable” of doing the job.
“Where there is no good skill, even when there is money, projects do not take off because either people are not able to plan enough to get them into realisation or even start them,” Mr Mulaudzi told the Africa on Track Summit in Ekurhuleni yesterday.
Prasa’s multibillion-rand fleet renewal programme has been in the news due to incorrect procurement, along with delays and inadequate currency hedging.
Prasa is spending R137bn on new rolling stock and refurbishing and building new infrastructure. Transnet is investing more than R300bn in rail and port infrastructure over the next 10 years.
Earlier this year, Prasa suspended its chief engineer, Daniel Mtimkulu, for misrepresenting his qualifications. He later resigned.
Prasa is investigating media reports that chief procurement officer Joseph Phungula lied about his PhD qualification.
Last week Prasa confirmed that it had received the first of 600 trains bought from French group Alstom in a R51bn deal. However, delays in preparing infrastructure meant the depot for parking the train and R200m track to test it were not ready.
Prasa said its board had resolved the supply chain problems that had delayed the test track.
Transport economist Andrew Marsay said there was a shortage of skills in SA but “usually good transport projects attract good people”. Transnet had good technical staff but Prasa struggled to attract skilled people because of its operation model, he said.
Mr Marsay said the emphasis on running Prasa as a “publicly owned business” and keeping out the private sector was a problem.
“The operation model at Prasa is not conducive to improving operations. And it seems unwilling to experiment with different operation models for the train service.”