B Cele: Opening of Main Road 68

19 October 2006

All protocol observed.

It is indeed my pleasure to be here with you today and to officiate at the
official opening of Main Road 68, P68 Street Faiths.

It was on 21 May 2002 that the former MEC for Transport and now Premier of
KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Sibusiso Ndebele, officiated at the sod-turning ceremony to
mark the commencement of the upgrading of this stretch of road.

Four years later we are back here today to celebrate the official
opening.

I'd like to draw your attention to the sod-turning ceremony because on that
day the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport pledged to you that we would
construct Road P68 in a way that would address not only the need for upgraded
access, but also poverty alleviation, job creation and enterprise
development.

We also pledged to consult you, members of the community, through the
establishment of a project liaison committee which would include stakeholder
representation from the regional and traditional authorities, rural road
transport forums, community road safety councils, Vukuzakhe Associations,
public transport and local business.

My pleasure in being here with you today to officially open Road P68 stems
from the fact that my department has honoured its pledges.

We have also received awards for the construction of this road.

In 2003 the Road P68 project received an award from the South African
Institute for Civil Engineers (SAICE).

In 2005 we received another award jointly with Road P399, Road P50/3 and
Road P240 for the most outstanding civil engineering excellence in
community-based projects from the Pietermaritzburg SAICE branch.

I am pleased to report that 100 percent of the construction work on Road P68
has been completed by Vukuzakhe contractors who have created local employment
amounting to 78 000 person days. This is indeed an achievement that we can take
pride in.

As your MEC for Transport, I visit other provinces and countries and observe
first hand their road construction achievements.

I can therefore confirm that there are very few high quality blacktop roads
anywhere else in the world that have been built 100 percent by emerging
contractors.

I would therefore like to congratulate all those whose dedication and hard
work made this achievement possible.

It is common cause that development can never be achieved without
appropriate planning that brings together beneficiary communities and service
providers in a genuine consultative process.

The Road P68 project has been overseen by two project liaison committees
which have been chaired by Mr S Dlamini who has been assisted by our Mr D
Bryan.

Together with the previous chairperson, Mr M Manicum, they have worked in
close consultation with our consulting engineers and community leaders to
deliver a development success story that is truly world class.

The following are just some of the many achievements of this team:

* R111 million, of R282 million budgeted for 49,9 kilometres, was spent on
the construction of 18,7 kilometres of blacktop by the end of the 2005/06
financial year.

* 78 000 person days of local employment was created.

* 40 percent of all materials were purchased through local suppliers.

* 100 percent of construction contracts were awarded to Vukuzakhe
contractors.

* Twenty-one civil engineering S3 students received in-service training.

* Seven (four females and three males) Construction and Engineering Training
Authority (CETA) learners are being trained.

* Renovated buildings have been used as site offices.

* Two sports fields have been upgraded.

* An 800 000 litre weir was constructed at Dweshula for use during
construction as well as for community gardening activities.

* Twelve boreholes have been rehabilitated with the assistance of our
engineers and sponsored by Ugu district municipality.

* High schools have been sponsored with computers and a science in school
strategy has been formulated to target two high schools and four primary
schools along the Road P68/1 route.

* A bursary programme has been initiated to support the best performing high
school science students.

I commend all those involved for their commitment to community development.
I appreciate that this success story was only achieved through hard work,
dedication and genuine consultation.

At the sod-turning ceremony on 21 May 2002, a further pledge was made that
our African Renaissance Roads Upgrading Programme (ARRUP) would focus on the
concept of corridor development and would lay the foundations for medium and
long-term local economic growth and development.

This was indeed a bold pledge as the concept of corridor development is
relatively new in South Africa's development planning and usually requires a 20
to 30-year time frame. To complicate matters further, no two development
corridors are the same.

There can be little doubt that the central planning issue in the development
of the Road P68 (St Faiths) development corridor is the exploitation of
agricultural potential.

This potential has been recognised in the building of the Ugu fresh produce
market which will now provide a much needed outlet for agricultural
produce.

I am pleased to inform you that we have representation on the various
planning committees to establish the Ugu Market and plan for its future.

We are also working closely with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture
to initiate a wide range of agricultural interventions that use the combined
strengths of our departments to benefit local farmers.

For your information we have on display maps depicting a hydrological water
analysis of the Road P68 corridor.

The hydrological maps highlight the amount of water that can be used from
the rivers, streams and springs within the corridor to promote year round
sustainable agriculture on a wide range of crops.

I believe that this is the first time in the history of Umzumbe, Ezinqoleni
and Ixopo that we have such a scientific basis on which to plan sustainable
agricultural investments.

Highlighted on the maps are current projects that will be implemented this
year.

These include banana production at Cherry Willingham, Juncao mushroom
cultivation sites and the distribution of macadamia nut trees to
households.

I am also pleased to inform you that our own Zibambele participants are
targeted by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture as major participants
in their drive to achieve an agrarian revolution.

Finally, I would like to draw your attention to one of the many "products"
of the ARRUP that goes almost unnoticed but certainly deserves to be
heralded.

I refer here to the growth and development of black owned and black managed
consulting engineering companies. On Road P68 we have the success story of
Emzansi Consulting Engineers.

Although much of the success of Emzansi can be attributed to its dynamic
Managing Director, Sipho Madonsela, who is currently the President of the
Engineering Council of South Africa, I am certain that he will acknowledge that
it is the ARRUP experience that provided the platform to grow his company from
a staff complement of eight when Emzansi was first contracted by us to its
current total of 55 employees.

I am proud to confirm that the success story that is undoubtedly Emzansi's,
in fact, repeated on all other ARRUP projects.

It is true to claim that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, through
ARRUP, has nurtured the growth and development of black owned and black managed
consulting engineering companies.

This development urges well for our capacity to drive the Accelerated and
Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) particularly its
infrastructure development investments in our province.

I would like to use this opportunity to compliment Mr James Mlawu,
Chairperson of the ARRUP Steering Committee and his colleagues for their
foresight in implementing procurement and recruitment systems that have
fundamentally transformed the consulting engineering profession in
KwaZulu-Natal.

When I add to this other innovative programmes such as experiential training
for S3 students CETA learnerships, "Take a Girl Child to Work", the promotion
of science and engineering careers in schools, computer sponsorships and
bursary programmes for secondary and tertiary education, I can only conclude
that ARRUP is indeed making a difference.

Little wonder therefore that ARRUP has been nominated for the national South
African Institute of Civil Engineering (SAICE) award in the category, civil
engineering excellence in community-based projects.

In conclusion, October has been declared National Transport Month.

The Transport Month campaign is a government initiative geared towards
strengthening the link between awareness raising and policy measures to reduce
traffic congestion by particularly promoting the use of public transport.

This year's theme is, "Transport the heartbeat of South Africa's
Economy".

There can be no doubting the fact that we, as the KwaZulu-Natal Department
of Transport are indeed "defending the weak".

Thank you

Issued by: Department of Transport, Community Safety and Liaison,
KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
19 October 2006
m<EOD