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Viewing cable 08PRETORIA1937, SOUTH AFRICA RESPONSE TO USITC STUDY ON SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA:

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08PRETORIA1937 2008-09-02 11:00 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Pretoria
VZCZCXRO3017
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHSA #1937 2461100
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 021100Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5555
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS PRETORIA 001937 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS TO USITC FOR L. SCHLITT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD OTRA ASEC SF
SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICA RESPONSE TO USITC STUDY ON SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: 
EFFECTS OF INFRASTRUCTURE CONDITIONS ON EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS PART 
ONE 
 
REF:  A. STATE 62391, B. PRETORIA 0175, C. PRETORIA 1186, 
      D. CAPE TOWN 52 
 
1. (U) This cable responds to the items requested in paragraph five 
of Reftel A.  Post will provide responses to paragraph six and seven 
through additional reporting prior to the October 1 deadline. 
Supplemental documentation will also be sent via e-mail. 
Transportation/ICT Officer Daleya Uddin (Uddinsd@state.gov or 
+27-12-431-4344) and Economic Specialist Christo Esterhuizen 
(EsterhuizenJC@state.gov or +27-12-431-4417) are the main points of 
contact at post. 
 
 
2. (U) Information on the effects of infrastructure conditions on 
export competitiveness is relatively easy to obtain in South Africa 
through public sources, e.g., World Bank, government, and corporate 
reports.  Most of the information in public documents is from 2006 
or earlier. 
 
3. (U) Electricity and transport infrastructure in South Africa is 
mainly developed, maintained, and controlled by government 
departments or state-controlled companies.  Reftels B and C provide 
additional background information on Eskom (the state-controlled 
electricity producer) and Reftel D provides background information 
on Transnet (the state-controlled freight and transport logistics 
group).  Both Eskom and Transnet are currently investing tens of 
billions of dollars to improve electricity and transport capacity 
and to address infrastructure bottlenecks that are hampering growth. 
 
 
4. (U) The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) 
and The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are 
good sources of information on this topic.  Dr Kevin Wall at CSIR 
has provided information on the status of transport infrastructure 
in the past.  He is the Manager for the Urban Management and 
Infrastructure at CSIR's Built Environment unit in Pretoria.  He can 
be contacted at +27-82-459-3618 or kwall@csir.co.za. 
 
5. (U) CSIR and Imperial Logistics released a joint State of 
Logistics Survey in July 2008.  The survey is available at 
http://www.csir.co.za/sol/.  The survey spotlights domestic 
infrastructure and logistics and its relation to international 
trade.  The survey also reports positive logistics growth for the 
southern African region and highlights the challenges the region 
faces as it hopes to increase its global competitiveness.  South 
Africa ranked 24 out of 150 countries on the World Bank's Logistics 
Performance Index.  However, based on logistics expenditure, the 
country is rated 124.  CSIR identifies a number of logistics hurdles 
in South Africa including inadequate infrastructure and processes at 
ports and borders, rising fuel costs, increased road freight, and 
inefficient rail transportation. 
 
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