The National Department of Transport said that the IPTN project is being wound down and will be discontinued.
The portfolio committee on transport has raised serious concerns about the stagnation of Pietermaritzburg’s Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN) System, warning that without urgent and coherent planning, the project could collapse entirely.
The warning came during a committee oversight visit to Msunduzi Local Municipality on Tuesday, where members assessed the troubled bus rapid transport (BRT) system that has absorbed significant public funding but remains largely non-operational.
Committee chairperson Donald Selamolela said the failure to implement the programme represented a missed opportunity for both commuters and the local economy.
“The programme, otherwise known as the BRT [bus rapid transport] system, need not have failed, as it seems in Pietermaritzburg, especially after so much money had already been spent,” Selamolela said.
A catalyst for growth and jobs
Selamolela stressed that the project had the potential to stimulate economic activity and create jobs if it had been properly executed.
“This programme ought not only to have benefited commuters but should have provided employment opportunities for our people,” he said.
However, he said the committee was deeply disappointed by what it found on the ground.
“We need not be lamenting what could have been. We are disappointed, and we are concerned with what we found in Pietermaritzburg [Msunduzi Local Municipality]. The programme is going to become a white elephant if nothing is done,” Selamolela warned.
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National department moves to discontinue project
During the visit, the national Department of Transport informed the committee that the IPTN project is in the process of being wound down and will be discontinued.
In response, Selamolela said attention must now shift to finding innovative ways to use the infrastructure that has already been constructed.
“The plan should be around innovative uses of the infrastructure that has been already laid out,” he said.
The committee’s visit included meetings with stakeholders and a walkabout of the transport system infrastructure.
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Misalignment between government spheres
Selamolela also highlighted a lack of alignment between the national Department of Transport and Msunduzi Local Municipality, saying this had contributed to the project’s failure.
“This speaks to the silo mentality and the lack of alignment of thought around project implementation,” he said.
He criticised attempts to blame the taxi industry for delays, saying municipal failures could not be ignored.
“It is not enough to cite the taxi industry as the reason for non-implementation of projects when the municipality has failed,” Selamolela said.
He added that conflicting positions between national and local government were untenable.
“Now we are sitting with a situation where the national department says stop, and the municipality says it has continuation plans.
“That does not work; the municipality should use the available funding, developing comprehensive work plans to repurpose the already laid-out infrastructure,” he said.
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