2010: Gautrain may not be ready

Cape Town - The R25bn Gautrain project may not be ready in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the project's chief executive told Parliament on Tuesday.

Jack Van der Merwe told Parliament's portfolio committee on transport that the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) would not pay an "unreasonable amount" to the Bombela consortium to accelerate the project for a four-week-long event.

"There has to be value for money. If we have to pay an unreasonable amount, the answer is no," Van der Merwe said.

"It was never said that this was a soccer project. This train has to run for another 100 years.

"You cannot spend this kind of money on a four week event."

The World Cup is due to run from June 11 to July 11.

Costs

The Gautrain project was announced in January 2000. South Africa was awarded the World Cup in April 2004.

Van der Merwe did not know how much it would cost to accelerate the construction work to May 27.

The GMA was negotiating with Bombela.

He said any extra costs would have to be paid by the provincial or national government.

The costs would not be passed on to passengers through increased ticket fares, which are expected to cost between 50 and 60 cents a kilometre or R20 for a trip from Johannesburg to Pretoria.

Van der Merwe said 125 buses would be ready to transport passengers from the airport to their hotels should the train - which will run from the airport to central Johannesburg and Pretoria - not be ready in time.

'Carrot' for motorists

Van der Merwe said the Gautrain would be "carrot" for motorists using the Ben Schoeman highway between Johannesburg and Pretoria.

The train journey between central Johannesburg and Hatfield in Pretoria will take approximately 38 minutes and will cost commuters between R800 and R1 000 a month.

Traffic congestion and a R1 000 a month toll fee to be introduced on the highway would be the "stick".

"People will be stuck in traffic on the Ben Schoeman and they will see a train shoot past and they'll think maybe I made a mistake.

"Then five minutes later they'll see another train and they'll think I really did make a mistake."

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