Remarks by the Premier of Gauteng, David Makhura, at the launch of Johannesburg Streets Alive: Eco-Mobility World Festival 2015, Sandton City
Programme Director,
MMC for Transport Cllr Christine Walters;
Minister of Transport, Hon Dipuo Peters;
MEC for Roads and Transport, Dr Ismail Vadi;
Our host, the Executive Mayor of the City of Joburg, Cllr Parks Tau;
Our esteemed international guests, the Mayor of Suwon, Mr Yeom Tae- Young,
Deputy Secretary General of the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), Mrs Monika Zimmerman and the Creative Director of Eco-mobility World Festival, Mr Konrad otto- Zimmernan;
Senior government officials of the city and province;
Ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to the province that is proud to be the home of Homo naledi. On behalf of the Gauteng Provincial Government, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives for taking the important decision to bring the 2015 Eco-Mobility World Festival to our City of Johannesburg, Africa's financial centre.
I wish to also commend the City of Johannesburg for hosting this paradigm-shifting Festival. In particular, I congratulate Mayor Parks Tau for this bold initiative that breaks new ground in the way people should live and move in future. I am confident that the Festival will be a success.
The festival takes place during Transport month in which we promote the use of public transport and encourage citizens to imagine and embrace alternative means of moving goods and people, including non-motorized transport such as walking, cycling and biking. We want to restore the dignity of walkers, runners, bikers and cyclers on our streets.
For people who live in Alexandra, walking to Sandton is something that many do at least once, not out of choice but simply out of necessity. Personally, I have walked from Alexandra to Sandton in the 1980s. I have also cycled from Alexandra to the Johannesburg Central Business District. In the way we design our cities and build public infrastructure, we need to make public transport and non-motorized transport a matter of choice and lifestyle.
I would like to urge public officials, private sector executives and civil society leaders to support the Eco-mobility Festival and other initiatives that seek to promote the use of public transport and opt out of the single- car mode of mobility. During the October month, I will be using public transport from Midrand, where I live, to Joburg CBD where my Office is. I will also use the Gautrain and Bus Rapid Transit systems in Joburg and Tshwane CBDs.
Public transport and non-motorized transport promote social cohesion and the preservation of the environment by reducing the carbon footprint. I also support the initiative of the City to integrate Alexandra and Sandton City through investment in public transport is very important.
Transport month is also an opportunity to remind ourselves of the obligation we have, to build a public transport system that is eco-friendly; that focuses on mass transportation as opposed to individual transportation and a public transport system that privileges non- motorised forms of transportation.
We should also use this period to encourage our citizens to imagine a new future with less private cars on the roads and a future where our roads are much safer. During Transport Month as government, we once again, renew our commitment to providing world class and modern roads and public transport infrastructure as well as non-motorised transport facilities.
The Eco-mobility campaign is therefore taking place at the most opportune time in our country. To us the Eco-mobility campaign is an important step we are taking towards a future public transport system of our dreams. This campaign is about how we will travel in the future. It is about how the cities of the future will be designed. It is also about how we are transforming towns and cities and going forward we will change our urban spaces to include public transport, encourage walking and cycling. In this regard we will invest in a better public transport infrastructure.
We also view this campaign as an important addition to the work we are doing to create more integrated, liveable and sustainable cities; cities of the future.
Investing in public transport infrastructure is one of the priorities and pillars of our programme for radical Transformation, Modernisation and Re-industrialization. A modernized, safe, reliable, affordable, integrated, intermodal and environmentally sustainable public transport system is a corner stone of an inclusive and sustainable future.
As part of driving the agenda for transformation, modernization and re- industrialization, we must ensure that bicycles, motorbikes and other non-motorized equipment are manufactured locally in our country and in our province through clean and green technologies. Green re- industrialization and re-industrialization is possible.
We all know too well that an accessible, reliable, modern and efficient public transport system is central to our on-going endeavours to promote social and economic inclusion as well as to break decisively with Apartheid special planning patterns.
We take this opportunity to urge the people of Gauteng to embrace and support the necessary shift from an unsustainable single-car mode of transport to an Eco-mobile Gauteng City Region.
I wish you a successful 2015 Eco-Mobility World Festival in the streets of the City of Joburg.
Thank you.
