In a bid to address transport infrastructure challenges in the province, the Eastern Cape Department of Transport will host a Transport Infrastructure Investment Conference in July 2012.
This announcement was made by Eastern Cape MEC for Transport, Roads and Public Works Thandiswa Marawu during a departmental Strategic Planning Session at the University of Fort Hare in Bhisho today, 23 February 2012.
The reasons for initiating such conference is that public transport matters are not necessarily regarded as the most pressing societal challenges, especially after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Already, she said Provincial Government is top slicing budgets to deal with the challenges of Education and Health, which means that the department of Transport is not a priority.
“It is incumbent upon everyone to be innovative and reposition transportation to be a catalyst in addressing government’s key priorities, which in the main, include, Education, Health, Housing, and access to basic amenities like water, sanitation and electricity. This requires all of us to think out of the box and begin to solicit private sector involvement in turning around the provincial transportation landscape” said Marawu.
In the State of the Province Address (SoPA), President Jacob Zuma made reference to the development of a major new South Eastern node that will improve the industrial and agricultural development and export capacity of the Eastern Cape region, and expand the province’s economic and logistics linkages with the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Last week, Eastern Cape Premier Noxolo Kiviet gave more details on the president’s pronouncement, which included:
- Port of Ngqurha container port expansion
- Ngqurha-Gauteng Rail corridor development, which will go a long way in integrating the Eastern Cape with the national economy;
- Upgrading of the East London Harbour
“For successful execution, all these projects will require strategic partnership between government and the private sector. Already there is an interest from the private sectors (locally and abroad) to invest in some of our infrastructure projects, including the Mthatha Airport, Kei Rail Project,” said Marawu.
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Ncedo Kumbaca
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