Honourable Speaker
Madam Premier
Honourable members
Government officials
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Let me first thank the Portfolio Committee on Roads and Transport for the tabled report, which we believe will assist us to improve our performance. Our work is guided by government’s priorities as outlined in the ANC’s Manifesto and we are further committed to the provincial government’s priorities.
We strongly believe that in order to ensure that rural development and economic growth happen, we need to improve access and mobility of our people in order to ensure that they participate actively in the economy of this country. After 15 years of our liberation, we cannot continue to have a province that reflects the old apartheid set up of economic activity and uneven development, which results to urbanization and disintegration of families and communities. Currently we have the western half of our Province that is economically active, while on the opposite side we are greeted by abject poverty.
Programme 1: Administration
With regard to the Fleet Management contract, the process is still underway and is led by National Treasury and we hope that very soon an announcement will be made as to who will run our fleet in this province.
This month I have appointed a new Parliamentary Liaison Officer Mr Mongi Dilika and soon I will appoint another PLO, who will be responsible for Safety and Liaison.
The transfer process of the roads function to the Department of Public Works is underway and is being handled by a task team that reports to the Governance and Administration Cluster of Cabinet.
We remain on course with the transformation of not only the Department of Roads and Transport, but the entire transport sector. I would like Honourable Members to be mindful of the fact that this is a specialised sector, which is dominated by old white males and the democratic state intends to turn it around. Through our Human Resource Development Strategy, we are continuing to attract more young women to study transport related courses, including traffic law enforcement, civil engineering, aviation, rail engineering and other courses that add value to our transformation agenda.
We know that this is a protracted process, but we are convinced that in the long term, we will reap the benefit.
Programme 2: Roads Infrastructure
We have categorised our bridges infrastructure as we now have ordinary bridges for high traffic volume roads, which are expensive to build, and rural bridges, which are cost-effective, easy and quicker to build. The rural bridges will mainly be concentrated in areas, where we have collapsed bridges and to improve access to rural clinics, hospitals, schools, police stations, tourism destinations and other government services.
Honourable members would notice that the provincial surfaced road network is generally ageing. Despite this challenge, we will continue to get requests as government to build new sustainable roads that improve accessibility and mobility of our people, while simultaneously contributing to economic development. This does not necessarily mean that we have abandoned road maintenance as it remains critical. We are continuing to work with local municipalities through our Area Wide Road Maintenance Programme to ensure continuous improvement of our road infrastructure.
I would like to bring to the attention of this House that road designing is a very critical process in the building of our roads, because proper design guarantees sustainability of the road.
With regard to Road Classification, there is a task team that has been set up to apply the RIFSA classification and Cacadu and Amathole have been chosen as pilot districts. Visits to municipalities are underway and we will get a full progress report by September 2009.
We are simultaneously preparing to engage Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Metro to ensure that by August 2009, we have a clear picture of the situation of roads leading to big cities. It is anticipated that the initial phase of Road Classification will be completed by the end of 2009, which will be followed by the proclamation of approximately 7 000km of unproclaimed roads that lie predominantly in the former Ciskei and Transkei areas. This will be followed by the devolution of certain roads, which are currently under the authority of the provincial government down to the relevant local municipality.
Honourable members, we also need to take into account the fact that this process will entail budget transfers between Provincial Treasury, Department of Roads and Public Works and the respective municipalities. But the committee will be furnished with the relevant information as requested.
We will work together with the Eastern Cape Geographic Names Committee to urgently deal with this challenge of road signs and report back to the committee.
Programme 3: Public Transport
The implementation of our “back to rail strategy” remains on course and is supported by a clear 10 Year Rail Plan, which will be our compass as we move our people back to rail and ensure access to affordable, accessible, reliable and safe public transport system. Through this plan, we have identified certain railway lines for commuter, tourism and freight services.
Two days ago, I visited the refurbished King Williams Town Train Station and took a train trip to East London in an effort to check the state of readiness for the introduction of a daily train services between the two towns on Monday 3 August 2009.
Since the introduction of the Kei Rail Daily Service, we have seen a remarkable increase in passenger volumes, which proves the correctness of our decision to re-open that line.
These services will be integrated to minimize competition through a feeder system as we intend to ensure that we have a public transport system that is responsive to the needs of our people and promptly address the challenges identified in the National Household Travel Survey of 2005.
Going forward, we are going to hear less about taxis, buses, trains, instead we will talk about public transport industry and we call upon all role players in these industries to gear themselves for this integrated approach and to start to work together.
The silence of my policy speech on issues relating to the taxi industry was mainly informed by the process that we are actively involved in, which is being driven at a national level and the taxi industry is involved.
At the National Taxi Summit of 11 June 2009, it was agreed that a Joint National Working Group comprising government officials and delegates from the taxi industry should be established to deal with the following:
- Taxi Recapitalisation
- Operating Licences
- Legislation governing public transport in its entirety
- Bus Rapid Transit System
As one of the affected Provinces, our Department is represented in this Joint National Working Group together with the Metro.
The rollout of the AB 350 buses is running smoothly. Earlier this month, we launched Phase 2 of the project in the Chris Hani District where 18 buses are servicing 17 routes in Lady Frere, Cofimvaba, Indwe and Queenstown.
A total of 48 people have already been appointed in Queenstown as drivers, cleaners, conductors and managers. Another 25 additional buses will be distributed to the Amathole District in September 2009 to service 24 routes in Butterworth, Centane, Dutywa and Ngqamakhwe. Another 56 buses will be distributed to the Alfred Nzo and OR Tambo districts early next year.
Programme 4: Traffic Management
As the department, we have observed an improved performance in our traffic control activities since December 2008, when we introduced the Task Team and that resulted into a 30% decrease in road accidents during the festive season.
In January 2009, I instructed that this task team should continue to operate until 2010 and will work together with members of the South African Police Service (SAPS).
I am prepared to engage on all issues of internal strife within the Traffic Control Directorate and I will soon engage with the relevant role players to find an amicable solution that will assist to improve service delivery to our people, especially road users.
Programme 5: Community-Based Transportation
We have noted the concerns of the committee and we will provide the necessary response. Through this programme, we will further prioritise the routes used by Mayibuye Transport Corporation to ensure that they are trafficable.
In conclusion, I would like to once more express my gratitude to the Committee and recommit my department in ensuring that all the issues that have been raised in the report are immediately addressed.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Transport, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
24 July 2009
