REFILWE MEKOA
The Free State province aims to reduce the cargo footprint by speeding up the road-to-rail strategy where cargo or freight will be moved from being transported by trucks.
This is according to Thuso Ramaema, the head of strategic projects at the Department of the Premier. Ramaema highlighted that the Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal and Free State corridor focusing on transport and logistics is also within the Harrismith Node at the Maluti-a-Phofung municipality to establish a fully integrated special economic zone.
“The road-to-rail strategy is implementable very urgently. As Free State government we have been approached to allow the private sector in the logistics businesses. These businesses are currently moving a bulk of goods to Durban for export and are trying to accelerate the pace of the establishment of the road-to-rail strategy in Harrismith as a hub,” he says.
Ramaema says it will generate employment and fast movement of consumer goods and added that the second project will take off quickly and will be in the vehicle-distribution centre.
