DME, NERSA or THE CABINET: WHO'S SKINNING THE PIPELINE CAT?

THE egg dancing around the sensible Cabinet decision to give Petronet (Transnet Pipelines) the go ahead to build a larger petroleum product pipeline from Durban, is something to see. But first thing to notice is that the price of the proposed line has now jumped from R9.5 billion to R11.5 billion -- if ever there was a signal to pull finger, this is it. Meanwhile, no doubt anxious to mend fences with the National Energy Regulator, the Director General of the Department of Minerals and Energy, DG Sandile Nogxina, has gone on record saying that the Transnet Pipeline did not exempt the company from following normal regulatory procedure, nor did it preclude the prospect of competing private-sector pipeline projects, Presumably, that means the iPayipi Pipeline can continue to go ahead. ( If they do so, they must have more money than sense).: “In no way does Cabinet’s decision exempt Petronet from following procedures as stipulated in the Act,” and that the State would welcome competition in the sector, Nogxina said. Cabinet took a policy decision in the “interest of security of supply”, he stated. Ja, well. That is clear as mud. The public hearing on the iPayipi proposal will now go ahead ( if they are crazy) the Nersa bureaucrats can feel self-important again, and everything in the garden will be lovely.