Cape town: Government is pressing ahead with plans to introduce high-speed rail in South Africa, with proposed routes including Johannesburg to Musina and eThekwini to Johannesburg. ‘We are preparing to send out a request for proposals, which will introduce a new era of long-distance rail travel in South Africa,’ President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday.

According to South African Government News Agency, delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Cape Town City Hall, the President said nearly 30 companies indicated their willingness to participate in high-speed rail corridors when the government put out a request for information last year.

Furthermore, the government will provide more than R2.5 billion in funding to over 180,000 small and medium enterprises and extend a further R1 billion in guarantees. ‘Naturally, we will seek to also focus on women- and youth-led businesses to foster their empowerment. And we will amend the National Credit Act regulations to make it easier to access credit at a lower cost,” the President said.

He noted that nearly all small and medium enterprises have to contend with a multitude of regulations, by-laws, licensing requirements, and bureaucratic hurdles. ‘We take seriously the public comments on the draft Business Licensing Bill and will ensure that the final Bill makes it easier, not harder, to start and run a small business in South Africa,’ the President added.

The purpose of the Business Licensing Act is to provide a common business licensing framework, principles of business licensing, coordination of national and provincial competencies, promote consistency in procedures and decision-making, and establish a framework for cooperative governance and harmonization of procedures and requirements for processing business licenses.