RATP Dev, a global leader in public transport and high-capacity urban rail, reaffirms its commitment to South Africa and shares its vision for local partnership, prioritising socio-economic development and expertise.
RATP Dev is today the lead shareholder in Bombela Operating Company, the company that operates and maintains since 2010 the Gautrain, South Africa’s first rapid passenger rail. The Bombela Operating Company is globally recognised for its efficient operations, with Gautrain’s availability record consistently over 96%. Its local leadership team is 70% female and fully committed to supporting the communities around the Gautrain network. Last month it was awarded the Train Operator of the Year award at the inaugural Rail Industry Awards, hosted by the Railway Safety Regulator.
“As we move into the future, we want to align ourselves more actively with the country’s priorities in urban rail,” says Ms Nthabiseng Kubheka, CEO of Bombela Operating Company and general manager of RATP Dev in South Africa. “To achieve this, we decided to re-imagine our role as a strategic and value-adding partner to South Africa, enlisting the participation of seasoned local investors as well as global partners who have been relentlessly investing in South Africa, all of them with a stellar track record of supporting socio-economic development across key sectors of the economy," adds Kubheka.
South Africa today is vastly different from 14 years ago, when Bombela Operating Company began operating the country’s first rapid rail. Today, the Gautrain is a best practice case study for public-private partnerships. The new partnership brings in broad economic experience, unrivalled expertise and in-depth understanding of both South Africa and the global landscape. Together, we want to maintain the current record of excellence of the Gautrain while delivering on new projects that will impact positively the community and South Africa’s economy.
The new consortium has over 300 years of experience amongst its partners in delivering on mega investment projects across key sectors of the economy in Africa and globally.
• RATP Dev is a global leader in high-capacity and high-frequency urban rail, boasting more than 120 years of experience operating and maintaining public transport systems. RATP Dev leverages the unique and world-renowned expertise and experience of Paris-based RATP Group, serving more than 100 clients on five continents.
• As a global Original Equipment Manufacturer, Alstom brings 175 years of manufacturing and service experience in rolling stock and rail systems, including design, innovation and project management in 70 countries. Alstom is a long-term partner for rail transport solutions in South Africa and has a critical impact on the economy through its local manufacturing and maintenance of components and trains for PRASA and Transnet, and core Gautrain rail assets.
• Local Engineering Projects leader GIBB-Crede has 68 years of experience leveraging its South African roots, deep local presence and understanding of Africa to deliver infrastructure planning and design on world-class mega projects, primarily in water, mining, power, property and of course transportation.
• African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) brings over 24 years of experience of investing in the African infrastructure sector with a track record extending across eight African infrastructure funds. AIIM’s team of 40+ investment professionals is based out of five locally staffed offices across the continent in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Lagos and Abidjan providing direct on-the-ground coverage of our key markets. As part of this new consortium, AIIM will invest a significant allocation from its R25.8 billion IDEAS Fund into South Africa’s commuter rail sector, building on the fund’s well-established track record in the energy sector. Over the past two decades, the IDEAS Fund has successfully mobilised pension capital to power 14 wind farms and 18 solar facilities across the country.
• AWCA Investment (AIH), comprises 51 Black women majority of whom are chartered accountants, captains of industry and spread across different sectors and provinces. This makes AIH a unique, professional women investment company with depth of financial skills, key to all businesses.
• Women-lead Motseng Investment Holdings Group (Motseng) has over 26 years’ experience of driving diversified investments with ventures and operations in the industrial, infrastructure and property sectors, including strategic investments in a portfolio of unlisted companies. Motseng has a presence across Sub Saharan Africa including in South Africa, Mauritius, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.