MPs have heard that time is running out to build an effective transport legacy for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

They also heard that the Tshwane metro is having a number of problems in getting their transport act together.

Jeremy Cronin, the chairman of Parliament's portfolio committee on transport, told the National Assembly before members left for their winter break: "We are quite concerned to be honest about what is going wrong with planning for public transport for 2010, and especially for the legacy we want to put in place beyond 2010."

Moving for the adoption of reports of the committee visits to Tshwane, and also to London and Manchester in England, Cronin said that in Pretoria the council was talking about metro rail improvements, upgrading stations and building some new ones, and they were planning ("we hope they are still planning," he said) a bus rapid transit system.

However, he added, they raised a number of concerns with the committee.

"The South African Rail Commuter Corporation is planning a big Moloto rail extension from Pretoria to Moloto," he said. "But they have not consulted the city effectively. So where they are planning to end up in Tshwane is not very suitable for the spatial planning and public transport planning that Tshwane is looking at.

"We also had the impression that there wasn't a very clear vision, frankly, coming from the Tshwane officials around their preparation for 2010 transport. This might have been the result of the fact that there are two members of the mayoral executive committee involved in public transport. One is involved in roads and infrastructure, the other with public transport.

"And the reports we got didn't quite add up to a clear integrated perspective."

Cronin also pointed out that Tshwane had another serious problem to do with funding their transport plans.

"The bulk of the funding they want for their 2010 transport planning, the bulk of the funding is only earmarked for 2010/11, which is clearly too late to put in place for transport in time for 2010."

One lesson the committee learned in London, where the city is getting into gear to host the 2012 Olympics, was that the authorities got their funding up front and very fast.

"One of the problems we are suffering now in South Africa is that cities are planning – nicely very often, sometimes not so effectively – for transport for 2010, but the money doesn't flow in," Cronin told MPs.

"Treasury says 'Yes, that looks good, but we are not convinced that your business plan is effective', and so on.

"And the problem then is that deadlines get pushed back and frankly we are running out of time if we are going to get a decent public transport legacy before 2010."

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