The women and youth of Ekurhuleni are set to benefit from a multimillion rand rail project, which is expected to start early next year.

The Etwatwa and Daveyton rail project is expected to start from early 2018 and according to Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi, the majority of the employment opportunities on the project have been reserved for women and the youth.

The minister also said that his department would invest R2.5 billion in the project. The development, which will see the construction of 12 rail stations between Etwatwa and Daveyton in Ekurhuleni, is expected transport an average of 25 000 people daily.

“If you talk about radical socio-economic transformation, you talk about people on the ground, and you talk about empowering the youth. The majority of people to be employed in this project will be women and the youth,” Minister Maswanganyi said.

Empowering the local community

Minister Maswanganyi added that the department will make sure that sub-contractors are sourced locally during the implementation of the project to empower local communities. “We believe that if we take the project to Etwata, priority must be given to people from the community for jobs.”

The department has also invested in a train manufacturing facility in Ekurhuleni, where 580 trains are being manufactured in Nigel.

“We are establishing a supplier park around the train manufacturing project, and the project will employ more than 8000 people,” Minister Maswanganyi said.