from Integrated Rural Mobility and Access (IRMA) project
10 February 2006
Limpopo: Over 6 000 residents of the Greater Tubatse Local Municipality in
Sekhukhune, Limpopo are poised to benefit from the R30 million IRMA project
that will be launched by Transport Minister Jeff Radebe tomorrow. The IRMA
project is a government initiative aimed at addressing transport and
bottlenecks and inefficiencies in rural areas that impact negatively on
socio-economic development.
The project launch in Sekhukhune will focus on delivering three key outputs
namely:
* To strengthen passenger transport services
* To improve the use of non-motorised transportation systems through the
promotion of the use of animal drawn carts, bicycles and other low technology
transport solutions such as paths and river crossing.
* To create an environment conducive for the development and strengthening of
rural freight and logistical support.
Numerous challenges have been cited in various transport studies including
the National Household Travel Survey of 2003, where more than 60 percent of
rural households in South Africa say that public transport is not available for
them. The survey also revealed that out of 16 million learners who travel to
school everyday, 76 percent walk. On the freight side, farmers pay
approximately R73.00 per tonne for transportation.
Addressing Accessibility challenges
To address these accessibility challenges, the Department has developed a
rural transport development programme and the IRMA project. To boost the
project in the Greater Tubatse Local Municipality, a number of interventions
shall be implemented this financial year. These include:
* Giving 400 bicycles to learners this Saturday from schools identified in line
with the feasibility study
* Upgrading 1.5 kilometres of the feeder road between the R36 and the Tubatse
Multi-Purpose Community Centre (MPCC)
* Upgrading 6 kilometres of the access road at Makopung to Banareng and the
river crossing
* Upgrading 2.5 km of the access road between Makgwareng to Banareng, including
river crossing
* Constructing cycle and pedestrian paths along the road between Lekgwareng and
Dinkwanyane High School.
These interventions cost about R3 400 for Phase 1 only. The Department has
budgeted an amount of R10 million for the whole project, which will be
implemented over a period of three years. IRMA promotes an integrated approach
of delivery with regard to rural transport services. The Department of
Transport is convinced that the launch of the project will reduce travel,
transport time and costs, improve connectivity to social services, facilitate
inter-modal transfers and interfaces, facilitate access to mainstream markets
and services and help produce financially stable operators. These interventions
will also be in line with the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiatives of
South Africa (ASGISA) as emphasised by the President in his State of the Nation
Address. They will further help with the reduction of unemployment levels,
facilitation of an efficient and competitive logistics infrastructure and the
provision of roads and railway lines.
Enquiries:
Collen Msibi
Tel: (012) 309 3214
Cell: 082 414 5279
Trevor Gozhi
Tel: (012) 309 3071
Cell: 082 883 7011
Issued by: Department of Transport
10 February 2006
Source: SAPA
