Gauteng govt to assume full ownership of Gautrain

Sixteen years after the Gautrain was established, the Gauteng government will assume full ownership of the high-speed rail system at the end of March.

Finance MEC Lebogang Maile has confirmed that the Gautrain will officially be handed over to the provincial government as a fully paid asset.

The 80-kilometre rail system was originally developed through a public-private partnership, with both government and the private partner jointly managing its operations.

Maile said the Gauteng government has now fully settled its portion of the Gautrain debt, meaning the system is entirely owned by the province.

“When we built Gautrain, we spent R26 Billion. Today, it’s worth anything between R45 billion and R53 billion. So that’s the power of public-private partnerships.”

He said plans to expand the Gautrain are still on the table.

“We will, by the end of March, through the premier, announce the preferred bidder for the new concession. The process is at an advanced stage, and we are happy that Gautrain is one of the PPPs [public-private partnership] that have been successful.”