MEC of Finance and Economic Development Lebogang Maile has confirmed that the process to select a new operator for Gautrain is “at the advanced stage”.
Maile tabled the Gauteng province 2026 budget at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature on Sunday.
Gautrain will officially be handed over to the Gauteng government as its asset at the end of March after concluding all its repayments to Bombela Concession Company (BCC).
The Gautrain provincial government appointed the BCC in 2006 to design, build, operate, maintain and partially finance the Gautrain project.
The project is a public-private-partnership (PPP) that includes a 15-year contract for the maintenance and operation of the Gautrain rapid rail system.
The Gautrain commenced operations in 2010, operated by the Bombela Operating Company (BOC).
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On Sunday, Maile commended the Gautrain-Gauteng government project as an example of a successful public-private-partnership.
“We have finished paying for Gautrain. When we built Gautrain, we spent R26 billion. Today, as we speak to you, and by the end of March when we receive the asset, it’s worth anything between 45 and 50 billion rand. That’s the asset of the Gauteng government. So that’s the power of the PPP,” said Maile.
He said that by the end of March, the Gauteng government will announce the preferred operations bidder, which will last for the next few years.
“The process is at the advanced stage. And we are happy that Gautrain is one of the PPP that have been successful.”
Gautrain model for scholar transport?
He said the provincial government was looking into implementing the same method for scholar transport.
“If we were to look at programmes like scholar transport and implement them using that model, we can achieve a lot. And that’s why we have already looked at that issue of Scholar Transport to say, yes, we have a budget,” said Maile.
“It will never be enough because every year there are more kids coming to schools. So, how do you manage this through PPP? And you can be able to achieve the results quicker. So, with the scholar transport, the issue is not that the budget is not allocated. The demand is high because of these challenges we are talking about of migration and people coming to Gauteng.”
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