joining hands to develop a road that brings development, Sani Pass road upgrade
and Border Relocation Joint Project launch
18 July 2006
Lesotho Minister of Transport, Mr Popane Lebesa
South Africa Environmental Minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk
Dignitaries from Lesotho and South Africa
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
Today is a very important day for the people of South Africa and the Kingdom
of Lesotho. It is a day where we translate our intentions, discussions and
agreements into action to the benefit of both our people. The upgrading of the
Sani Pass road from the gravel, largely "hard to navigate" terrain, which is
currently used almost exclusively by 4X4 vehicles, into a sealed and smooth
ridable surface that is accessible to normal car and public transport vehicles
will bring much needed development to the areas of Himeville and Underberg in
South Africa as well as Mokhotlong in Lesotho. I am informed that the footprint
of this initiative will extend as far as Pietermaritzburg, which is a town with
potential to provide a variety of economic services to Lesotho. The total cost
to this project is R160 million.
In July 2005, my esteemed counterpart from Lesotho, the Minister of Public
Works and Transport Mr Popane Lebesa and I signed a Declaration of Intent (DOI)
to promote technical co-operation and activities in the area of transport
including the areas of road, rail and air transportation. It thus gives me
great pleasure to share this day with our Lesotho dignitaries, exactly a year
after signing our agreement, to signal the start of the roll out of this
co-operation. I wish to emphasise that this is the beginning and not the end,
as I know that we have more matters to address within the frameworks of both
the DOI on transport and the Binational Commission.
Regional co-operation and integration as articulated in the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Transport, Telecommunication and
Meteorology, which binds us as South Africa and Lesotho, are cornerstones to
achieving the vision of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
This project we are launching today will serve to not only open up the Thaba
Tseka-Mokhotlong-Sani Pass-Himeville-Underberg-Pietermaritzburg corridor, but
it will also provide access to the Maloti Transfrontier Park and the World
Heritage Site thereby promoting tourism in this region.
Its impact will be biggest in terms of opening up access to South African
markets for Lesotho, the reduction of transport costs to local traders, the
reduction in the costs of consumer goods in this area and in the stimulation of
local economic development.
Understanding that Lesotho is a landlocked country that relies on South
Africa for access to external markets, success in the completion of both the
South African and Lesotho portions of the above corridor will ensure that we
respond directly to the commitments of the Almaty Declaration on Landlocked
Countries, thus contributing to our region's fulfilment of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDG) targets. I am informed that there are more
opportunities for promoting regional integration in the Lesotho and Qwaqwa
area, the Lesotho and Eastern Cape area and within the Maloti Transfrontier
Park framework. I wish to encourage the relevant stakeholders both in Lesotho
and South Africa to continue engagements in this regard.
Coming back to the Sani Pass road-upgrading project itself, my Department in
partnership with the provincial Department of Transport are continuing on what
is fast becoming a best practice example of intergovernmental co-operation to
bring development to our people. In the last year we have jointly launched and
executed several projects using this approach which have brought relief and
development to many of our rural communities including the Nquthu access road,
the Qwasha river bridge in Ulundi and the Nkodibe Interchange in Mtubatuba.
It is our intention to use this project as a vehicle to spread the footprint
of the Vukuzakhe contractor development programme, to broaden the impact of the
Zibambele road maintenance programme and to strengthen our democracy through
the involvement of our communities in road network planning and development
through Rural Road Transport Forums and Project Liaison Committees.
This project will contribute to Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) through the
linking of an established and emerging consultant via a joint venture
agreement. It will also maximise job creation through the application of
Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) principles both during and post
construction through the Vukuzakhe and Zibambele programmes respectively. In
addition, Government's project team comprises a mix of experienced older
officials and a young breed of officials, which will ensure knowledge transfer
and thus ensure sustenance of capacity within Government.
Finally I wish to highlight that, with National Construction Week taking
place between 27 July and 3 August in South Africa, this project should be
showcased as an engineer's dream as it contains three phases of varying levels
of difficulty, i.e. a flat relatively simple first section, a gradually
increasing incline with interesting watercourses and topographical challenges
in the second section and a very steep final section which is not only a
challenge to construct but will also require effective management in this
mountainous area with snowfalls and other hazards for road users.
I hope we will all return in about three yearsâ time to officially open the
complete road after all three phases have been completed. Also by then the new
Border Post, whose relocation we are also launching today, will have been
completed allowing regulated access between the two countries.
Please enjoy today's festivities and have a safe trip home.
Thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Transport
18 July 2006
Source: Department of Transport (http://www.transport.gov.za)
