Question NW1710 to the Minister of Transport
10 July 2017 - NW1710
Hadebe, Mr TZ to ask the Minister of Transport
Whether regular maintenance is being undertaken on information technology facilities and systems within the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa; if not, (a) why not (b) what steps have been taken to change this (c) why have no officials been (i) charged and/or (ii) suspended for not ensuring that these systems and facilities are maintained; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
PRASA does undertake regular maintenance of its information technology.
(a) Financial constraints at PRASA have resulted in key technical vacancies that have affected the maintenance in certain areas of Information Communication Technology (ICT).
(b) PRASA is exploring a partnership with other SOE’s in particular Transnet and Broadband Infraco for support in fibre maintenance. This is an interim measure while PRASA is building internal capacity to carry out the maintenance.
(c) There has not been any reason to charge employees; the challenges are structural and not related to ill-discipline.
(d) Skills and funding (operational funding) over and above the infrastructure Capital outlay remains a challenge. As PRASA modernizes, many of its ICT projects are in various stages of implementation and the full maintenance implications from an Operational funding point of view are still unclear.