The Department of Transport has received 162 formal responses from the private sector in the Request for Information (RFI) for rail and port projects. This, as part of the government's ongoing efforts to rehabilitate the country’s rail and port systems.
These include 51 responses for the iron ore and manganese corridor, 48 responses for the coal and chrome corridor and 63 responses for the container and automotive intermodal corridor.
In March 2025, Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy launched an online Request for Information to develop an enabling environment for private sector participation and enhanced investment in rail and port infrastructure and operations.
“Creecy indicated in March 2025 that South Africa’s rail and port infrastructure faces substantial challenges, including declining performance; theft and vandalism; underinvestment, and operational inefficiencies. All of these hinder trade and economic growth.
“The limited availability of state resources to fund infrastructure development and address backlogs has intensified these challenges, severely restricting the ability of state-owned entities to fulfil their critical mandates,” the department said on Wednesday.
Government, together with Transnet, has received numerous unsolicited proposals from the private sector offering investment, skills, and expertise to support the rehabilitation and reform of the country’s struggling rail and port systems.
This overwhelming interest made it clear that the department and Transnet needed to engage in broad and inclusive market engagement before issuing Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to ensure that these RFPs are well responded to.
According to the department, the RFI portal on the departmental website recorded 11,600 visits, which is an indication of a huge amount of interest.
The RFIs were completed online and accessed through the Department of Transport website.
“The portal remained open for eight weeks, from 24 March to 9 May 2025. However, due to an overwhelming interest from the stakeholders, the deadline was extended to 30 May 2025.”
The department has commenced with its assessment of the responses to the RFI, with all information submitted being treated with strict confidentiality and used exclusively to inform the development of potential Private Sector Participation (PSP) projects.
In addition, the department intends to make further announcements in due course regarding the commencement of any procurement programme in respect of the PSP projects.
In this initial phase of the PSP process, the RFI focuses on the following corridors:
- Northern-Cape to Saldanha Bulk Minerals Corridor PSP Project primarily for iron ore and manganese exports, and the Northern-Cape to Nelson Mandela Bay Corridor, primarily for manganese exports.
- Limpopo and Mpumalanga to Richards Bay Bulk Minerals Corridor PSP Project for coal and chrome exports, including coal exports from mines in Lephalale, Limpopo; chrome exports from the ‘Western Limb’ mines in the Rustenburg- Brits region in North-West; and coal exports from various mines across Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal to the Port of Richards Bay.
- Intermodal Supply Chain PSP Project focuses on the container and automotive sectors, on the Gauteng—Durban port (KZN), Gauteng—Eastern Cape (East London, Port Elizabeth, Ngqura), and Gauteng—Western Cape (Cape Town) corridors.
In July 2025, a second batch of the RFI will be released, which will focus on passenger rail initiatives.
