YOUR report on the tripling of the cost of Transnet’s new pipeline from Durban to Gauteng (Public will dig deep as cost of Transnet pipeline surges, February 22) reveals a disaster as big as Eskom’s new power stations. The pipeline was originally suggested by a private sector consortium, but the government rejected the offer, convinced it could do better.
Now, R30bn later, we can reflect that if the government had not interfered, the pipeline would already be in operation and paying many millions of rand a year in taxes. And if we had not squandered that R30bn, there would be no need for a one percentage-point increase in value-added tax some time in the future to bring in an estimated R20bn of desperately needed revenue. Verily, the people are paying for government blunders and its distrust of business.
Janine Myburgh
President of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Picture: BLOOMBERG/DANIEL ACKER
YOUR report on the tripling of the cost of Transnet’s new pipeline from Durban to Gauteng (Public will dig deep as cost of Transnet pipeline surges, February 22) reveals a disaster as big as Eskom’s new power stations. The pipeline was originally suggested by a private sector consortium, but the government rejected the offer, convinced it could do better.
Now, R30bn later, we can reflect that if the government had not interfered, the pipeline would already be in operation and paying many millions of rand a year in taxes. And if we had not squandered that R30bn, there would be no need for a one percentage-point increase in value-added tax some time in the future to bring in an estimated R20bn of desperately needed revenue. Verily, the people are paying for government blunders and its distrust of business.
Janine Myburgh
President of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry
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