Premier’s Visit at PRASA-Gibela
Gauteng Premier David Makhura visited the PRASA-Gibela train manufacturing factory in Nigel this week to highlight the progress made by the Gauteng Provincial Government in boosting the local manufacturing capacity and re-industrialising the province.
“We have long held the view that manufacturing is the backbone of any modern and any future economy and we share a vision that, as a province, everything we do should be aimed at revitalising the manufacturing base. As government we are determined to resuscitate the manufacturing sector for its potential not only to create job opportunities but also support secondary industries,” Premier Makhura said.
He added that the Gibela-Rail manufacturing factory was Africa’s largest and most advanced train manufacturing facility. At full production, the factory would be able to produce 62 trains a year, using cutting-edge technology from local artisans and engineers, in order to replace the old rolling stock and deliver 600 mega trains over 10 years.
To date the factory has delivered 37 brand-new trains sets to PRASA, in addition to the 20 that were manufactured in Brazil.
From an advanced manufacturing and green industrialisation point of view, the trains produced by this factory have these smart features:
- Consume less energy than old trains
- Light weight stainless steel structure
- Dignity, passenger safety and comfort, with more space, unlike current old trains which were designed cheap labour in mind
- Adheres to global safety standards, with anti-crash system
- Monitoring system to ensure trains run on time
- With a speed of 120km per hour
Since its launch in 2018, the PRASA- Gibela Rail Manufacturing Plant has injected R8.1 billion into the economy of Ekurhuleni and the Gauteng City Region’s Gross Domestic Product.
The facility has created a total of 5 129 jobs and has trained 2 540 people through its skills development programme and benefitted 3 620 community members from local upliftment programmes.
