Arm-wrestling civil servants contest?

WHAT is the catch? And why the delay? Transnet, which is State owned, approved R3 billion for a multi-product pipeline between Durban and Gauteng. Petronet, a Transnet subsidiary, is ready to do the job which will help send petrol, diesel and jet fuel from the coast to Gauteng a damn sight more safely than the caravans of road tankers being used at the moment, but the whole project seems to be bogged down. Why? Delays cost money. Our money to be precise. Anything owned by the State is actually owned by all of us taxpayers, as Spigot never tires of reminding anyone who will listen. And guess what? The price of the pipeline is now reported as R9.5 billion -- OK it will be double the originally envisioned size, but still. The catch is that Petronet wants a 5.6 percent rise in pipeline tariffs to make the whole thing viable -- a request turned down by the National Energy Regulator ( gee, another State organisation) citing a lack of information -- a reason it took two months to convey to Petronet, by the way. Petronet says without an increase in tarrifs, the new pipeline is a non-starter. Ahem, for this thing to be ready by 2010 work must start next year at the latest.... This is no time for tea breaks in the civil service. No time for huffy civil service committee to get in the way. It is time for united and concerted action by all State-owned entities, not turf wars between the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Minerals and Energy, the National Energy Regulator or anyone else. To serve the national interest, civil servants should do just that, be civil and serve -- and get out of the way.