Author: svadmin

With the challenges facing the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), the agency’s CEO, Zolani Matthews, has affirmed his commitment to building capacity for the organisation to deliver on its mandate, resume services, modernise infrastructure and restore good governance.

Addressing a media briefing on Tuesday on the status quo of the organisation, Matthews said key areas that require urgent attention to unlock inefficiencies have been identified.

“Unfortunately, PRASA is currently facing serious cash flow challenges purely because of erosion in our revenue streams. These included fare collected from rail operations, which has significantly been reduced due to non-availability of the product, and rental income around our stations reduced significantly because of lack of train operations, which contribute substantially to the business operations,” the CEO said.

COVID-19, Matthews said, has had an immense impact on the business operations of PRASA and some of its tenants, who have not been spared from economic hardships.

“PRASA in the main has an Operational Expenditure challenge, which has contributed to complaints from the public, particularly around Opex payments where PRASA has been paying its debtors on 160 days payment terms to manage its debts.

“The above is untenable to our debtors but together with the Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO), we are addressing the situation, which includes reviewing the payment terms. Most importantly, we are going to be resolute in collecting what is due to PRASA,” the CEO said.

He acknowledged that PRASA’s capital programme has failed to meet its targeted plans.

“Sadly, this has also affected PRASA’s modernisation programme aimed at replacing aging operations and improve efficiencies. Fortunately, the challenge in the space only requires internal capacity to resolve.

“We have amplified our Supply Chain Management (SCM) Policy together with its Standard Operating Procedures. To this extent, we have appointed competent colleagues to serve in our Bid Committees to finalize specifications, evaluation and adjudications,” he said.

Recently PRASA issued numerous packages and projects as part of its targeted implementation of the Capex programme.

In addition, the CEO has established, iSitimela saBantu Project Office – a PRASA wide coordination of projects and unlocking of bottlenecks for accelerated delivery of station, network and rolling stock rehabilitation with estimated investment of R12 billion for the current fiscal year.

Security Issues

With the unprecedented levels of both vandalism and sabotage at PRASA, security issues ranked amongst the top three risks facing the agency.

“Security remains a critical aspect of the rail services. To this end, various measures were introduced including in-sourcing security functions with 3100 employees recruited.

“We had commenced with engagements with sister companies in Eskom and Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) to participate in their security contracts. Unfortunately this was not successful. We will be issuing to the market contracts for private security to support the work we are doing in this space,” the CEO said.

In an effort to address security issues, PRASA needs to follow modern interventions, which include deployment of technology as a force multiplier to protect its assets.

“In this regard, procurement processes have commenced. We are looking at sourcing different technology options, which will also assist us to move away from old security plans and focus on modern interventions.

“I have also enlisted the services – on short-term contracts – of additional security experts to focus on some of our security challenges and threats. Their initial assessment has been quite revealing and we will soon make serious pronouncements around their work,” the CEO said.

According to a preliminary audit, vandalism across the business amounts to just over R4 billion.

“For a business as big and complex like PRASA, its operating structure reflects the old business. A process has commenced to develop a new operating model, which will also assist towards finalization of an optimum funding model for the business,” the CEO said.

The operating model will also address the question around the required personnel and skills for a modern rail company.

Moreover, PRASA has nominated a manager to focus specifically on Rail Safety Regulator (RSR) related issues, in relation to the lack of an operating permit.

Autopax Bus Service

PRASA has decided review its bus operations, Autopax – operator of Translux and City-to-City buses.

“Notwithstanding the negative impact of COVID-19 to the bus industry, PRASA had already taken a decision to divisionalize Autopax from a subsidiary.

“Extensive consultation has commenced with labour, as some of the plans involve reduction in employee numbers. Currently, the target is for the reduction of 350 employees. We are, however, looking at the possibilities of absorbing a certain number of these employees into the PRASA Group where vacancies are available,” the CEO said.

A new model and operations of Autopax will become possible once the divisionalization process has been established.

This would include a revised mandate on the operations of Autopax to support the primary mandate of PRASA on rail operations.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The National Regulator for Compulsory Specification (NRCS) inspectors have seized an illegal treated timber from distributors in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, worth more than R1 million and halted all treatment due to non-compliance with the regulation.

The NRCS was responding to the growing number of illegal treated timber found in the South African market, as part of its mandate to protect consumers and the environment.

This follows a targeted inspection conducted recently by the organisation, where a number of illegal treaters were found in Pietermaritzburg and surrounding areas.

“The treaters were unable to prove compliance to the requirements of the Compulsory Specification (VC 9092) for Treated Timber and were producing sub-standard products. They failed to produce proof of compliance and the products also failed to comply with the marking requirements,” NRCS said in a statement.

According to the regulator, the following requirement must be adhered to in order to render the products safe and compliant:

• A statement that the preservative treatment of timber complies with the requirements of the relevant product specification standard as set out in paragraph 12.4 of the latest edition of SANS (South African national Standard) 10005;

• The type/s of preservative/s that is/are used in the preservative treatment of timber as set out paragraph 4 of the latest edition of SANS 10005 or relevant product specification standard;

• The hazard class/es for which timber is treated as set out in paragraph 5 of the latest edition of SANS 10005; and

• The preservative treatment process/es that is/are used in accordance with paragraph 8.2 of the latest edition of SANS 10005.

As part of its findings, the NRCS said inspectors discovered that the timber is cleaned and then dipped in used oil or painted to mimic a treated timber.

Illegal treatment of timber holds an environmental threat in that the oil used to treat the timber seeps through the soil thereby contaminating the environment.

The organisation noted that there is a growing demand for treated timber in the country which is used in the construction of roofing, and as a more cost effective method in building houses.

With the current economic situation, the organisation said consumers opt for cheaper products as a substitute of bricks and legally treated timber which are deemed as expensive.

The NRCS has warned consumers on the rise of illegal treated timber, and advised against purchasing the product which is of a sub-standard quality.

“The NRCS will continue to monitor compliance of products and if any product is found non-compliant, the organisation will remove it from the market. This in line with section 20 (1) (b) of the NRCS Act No 5 of 2008 which stipulates that “any person who imports or sell a commodity or product – for which a compulsory specification is in force must furnish to the national regulator such information as may be specified with regard to the article concerned,” NRCS said.

NRCS administers the regulation of the Preserved Treated Timber through the Compulsory Specification aimed at preventing the spread of wood destroying insects, and protecting consumers against the economic impact caused by biological wood destroying agents such as fungal decay and insects.

Source: South African Government News Agency