Transport

While South Africa’s infrastructure has held a comparative advantage over its neighbours, upgrades have become necessary for most categories of public infrastructure to maintain that edge. The country’s airports are routinely praised as the best in Africa, and there is no shortage of capacity after a recent round of upgrades in advance of the 2010 World Cup. South Africa has 747,000 km of roads and a functioning railway network. The 20,500-km rail network is managed by Transnet, which is working on a plan to overhaul the rail system. The port at Durban is the country’s largest, handling around 60% of traffic, however, the country’s sea ports are challenged by high costs and congestion. This chapter contains interviews with Brian Molefe, CEO, Transnet; and Richard Branson, President, Virgin Atlantic.