VEREENIGING. – Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi was greeted with smiles by taxi operators during his recent visit to the Vereeniging Taxi Rank, where he was assessing the progress of the development of the Vereeniging Intermodal facility. The visit forms part of the Ntirhisano Outreach Programme, which aims to accelerate service delivery to communities in Gauteng.

Operators seemed to be happy that progress was finally being made on the taxi rank project after years of stagnation. Lesufi was accompanied by MEC for Transport and Logistics, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela. Gautrain COO, Tshepo Kgobe took Lesufi and other officials on a walkabout and provided feedback on the progress of the project.

The development of the Vereeniging Intermodal facility is aimed at providing taxi operators and commuters with a fit-for-purpose facility that will also stimulate the economy of the town. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by the end of April 2023 with Phase 2 being completed by the end of 2023.

Speaking during the visit, Diale-Tlabela said that Phase one of the project involves the facelift of the temporary taxi rank.

“We are here to check the progress on the temporary taxi rank for commuters and operators.
“This is after the failure of the original taxi rank project which did not materialize. We have decided that we will now check on projects every three months to ensure that beneficiaries are happy with the progress.
“As you can see today, we are accompanied by representatives from the taxi industry and they too are happy with the progress.”

Diale-Tlabela said following the facelift of the temporary structure, the model that will be implemented will include all economic activity.

“We are done with the model after lengthy consultations with the taxi industries. What is left is for the taxi industry to approve the model and only then can the work begin,” she said.