at the OR Tambo District Municipality investment conference
26 February 2009
Executive Mayor and Councillors of the OR Tambo District Municipality
Mayors and Councillors from various Municipalities within the District
Traditional leaders
Representatives from the business fraternity
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Let me first take this opportunity to congratulate the Executive Mayor of
the OR Tambo District, Councillor Capa and her team, for such a prestigious
investor conference, which provides a platform for various stakeholders to
participate actively in the acceleration of service delivery to our people and
economic growth in this region and our province.
Clearly, government alone cannot be expected to deliver a better life for
all. A multi-agency collaboration is necessary and should be centred on a
people's contract to create work, and fight poverty in an effort to advance
towards the realisation of our Millennium Development Goals and Provincial
Growth and Development Plan targets of halving unemployment and poverty by
2014.
I think this conference needs to draw inspiration from the words used by the
architect of our liberation and democracy, the son of this soil, who hailed
from the valleys of Ingeli Mountain, Cde Oliver Reginald Tambo, when he opened
the International Solidarity Conference in February 1993 on the theme "From
Apartheid to Peace, Democracy and Development."
Cde Tambo said: "Our programmes will have to address the desperate needs and
concerns of the poor and the oppressed those who were despised and denied the
most elementary human right."
We cannot claim to be revolutionaries, comrades and descendants of Oliver
Tambo, if we fail to put the interests of our people first by defeating poverty
and under-development, which continue to haunt his people and the democratic
developmental state.
Our response to this challenge is mainly to expand the frontiers of
opportunity through directing resources to the poorest of the poor, while
simultaneously accelerating growth and transformation of our economy. This can
be done through the creation of decent work based on labour intensive methods
and progressive procurement policies, which are biased towards the previously
marginalised groups in our society such as women, youth and the disabled.
Community development through people driven projects
Many rural communities, especially in this district, are not connected to
the main road network and do not have reliable access to socio-economic
development opportunities and government services. In order for us to emerge
victorious in our struggle against poverty and underdevelopment, it is
essential for government to uplift the standard of living through the provision
of basic services and infrastructure. It is a universally renowned fact that
roads infrastructure forms the foundation for sustainable development as well
as providing mobility for our people.
The current limited mobility and accessibility has entrenched the isolation
and marginalisation of the majority of our people from the mainstream
economy.
This situation warrants an urgent intervention by the democratic state in
collaboration with its social partners in order to address this uneven
development, which characterises the old apartheid and colonial
arrangement.
Hence, as the Department of Roads and Transport, we decided to align our
plan of hosting a Kei Development Corridor Conference with the District
Municipalityâs plans of hosting this investment conference today.
We have put resources in order to ensure that Kei Rail, Mthatha Airport and
other initiatives of the Department are well understood and supported by local
stakeholders. Guided by the principles of the Reconstruction and Development
Programme and the Expanded Public Works Programme, we need to clearly
demonstrate our commitment as government of the Eastern Cape, together with our
municipalities, to create jobs, promote training and skills development, and
improve services to poor communities with specific interventions in poor
households.
The Department of Roads and Transport has made an indelible mark in that
front through the appointment of 9 593 household contractors (of which 5 095
are women) to maintain low volume roads as part of our Sakha Isizwe
EPWP/Community-based Transportation Programme, of which 2 087 households are
from the OR Tambo District.
We have further appointed 120 road rangers in various districts to monitor
stray animals, of which 33 are from OR Tambo. The contribution of these Road
Traffic Safety Activists should not be underestimated, as they have been part
of strategies and law enforcement used to enable this province to decrease road
accidents by 30% during the 2008/09 festive season.
A total of 2 616 kilometres will be maintained in the OR Tambo District over
the next three years through our Routine Road Maintenance Programme.
This will be supported by our Inaccessible Roads Plan and Alternative Surfacing
Technologies Programme (which is a critical element of our 10 year roads
infrastructure turn around plan), especially on roads such as:
* R61 to Holy Cross Hospital expected to start in May 2009
* Continuation of the Holy Cross Hospital Road in April 2010
* Ngqeleni to Mthatha Mouth expected to start in April 2009
* R61 Sitshayela to Tembukazi expected to start in April 2009
* DR08313 to Canzibe Hospital expected to start in September 2009
* DR08170 to Lutana Clinic expected to start in October 2009
* Access Road to Qunu Administrative Area expected to start in April 2009
* Roads to Magwa tea plantation expected to start in April 2009
* Continuation of the Port St Johns Intervention Project in April 2009
We have also earmarked the roads to Mvezo Great Place and Nelson Mandela
Museum's Mvezo branch, Tina falls and to the town of Ntabankulu. There are some
major road upgrades that are taking place in this district, which have created
jobs for our people. These include:
* Sulenkama Hospital Road
* Greenville Hospital Road
The Wild Coast Meander construction from Tombo to Mpamba will commence in
October 2009, followed by the stretch between Zithulele and Coffee Bay, Coffee
Bay to Mqanduli and Madwaleni Hospital Road.
In our budget allocation, we have decided to balance funding for new
surfaced roads and the maintenance of the existing roads.
As a result, heavy rehabilitation is expected on the following roads:
* Flagstaff to Lusikisiki in November 2009
* Siphethu Hospital Road (designs have been completed)
* Phakade to Magusheni and Magusheni to Mzamba (designs are nearing
completion)
Light rehabilitation is expected to commence soon on roads such as:
* Ndwalane to Port St Johns, Mampube to Port St Johns and Port St Johns to
Ntafufu
* N2 to Ntabankulu
* Lusikisiki to Mbotyi and Lusikisiki to Bambisane Hospital
* Magusheni to Flagstaff
* Viedgesville to Mqanduli
Back to rail
Three months ago, we adopted a 10 year rail plan, which will guide our work
of taking our people back to rail and to ensure that our rail network
contributes to the Provincial Growth and Development Plan.
This Plan includes a massive train stationsâ development programme, which
will encourage a public private partnership that will further uplift the living
conditions of our people, especially in rural towns that have been left with no
alternative employment after the closure of many train stations in the
province.
The Mthatha Train Station has been earmarked for major development to become
a public transport hub, where our people can access trains, buses and taxis. On
that note, I would like to bring to the attention of this conference that this
coming Sunday, 1 March 2009, we will commence the Kei Rail Daily Service with
brand new state of the art coaches worth R21 million.
Mthatha Airport progress
The Mthatha Airport upgrade preparations remain on course. Designs have been
completed and submitted to the department earlier this month.
I would like to invite delegates in this conference to visit the Department
of Roads and Transport Exhibition Stand to view those designs. Physical
construction can be expected by July 2009.
Discussions are underway with various investors, who would like to invest on
both Bhisho and Mthatha Airports in support of our Blue Skyway Aviation
Strategy. Our main intention is to:
* Have a second airline between Mthatha and Johannesburg, including an
evening flight. A future link to Durban from Mthatha is envisaged as soon as
the correct type of service is developed. An important goal is to link Port
Elizabeth to Mthatha via Bhisho with the service geared for faster movement
between these three areas and to reduce the number of government vehicles on
these routes.
* Ensure that Mthatha Airport contributes in tourism development in the region
through improving access to the Wild Coast, which is one of the most popular
tourist destinations in the world.
* Ensure that the Airport contributes to local business development
* Facilitate connectivity with local businesses as people will now come
directly to Mthatha instead of flying to East London and then drive for three
hours.
AB 350 progress
The restructuring of the subsidised bus passenger transport services is
continuing smoothly, especially in the former Transkei region. The roll out of
the Africaâs best 350 (AB350) buses is expected to continue following the
delivery of 56 new 65 seater buses to OR Tambo and Alfred Nzo districts and 688
000 passengers have been transported by these buses since April 2008.
Phase two of the project is expected to start in April 2009 at Amathole (24
buses), Chris Hani (17 buses) and OR Tambo (15 buses).
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen, we understand that there is still much to be done in
order to realise a better life for all.
We will continue to build on the achievements of the last 15 years in an
effort to accelerate a sustainable, equitable and an inclusive growth path to
address our priorities.
These priorities will be tackled with all means at our disposal the
resources of government, the vision of the freedom charter and the energy and
commitment of our people.
However, as I have alluded earlier, government alone cannot achieve much and
that necessitates the strengthening of intergovernmental, inter-sectoral, and
multi-stakeholder relations which are underpinned by unity of purpose, a common
and shared vision of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South
Africa.
"Quality service delivery through transportation excellence"
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Roads and Transport, Eastern Cape Provincial
Government
26 February 2009
