Cape Town – Transport Minister Ben Martins says a sound and solid transport infrastructure remains crucial to generating economic growth, alleviating poverty, reducing inequality and increasing domestic and international competitiveness.
It was with these goals in mind that departmental spending over the next year will focus on the maintenance of road infrastructure, upgrading rail infrastructure and services, and constructing and operating transportation infrastructure.
“Our effort to make transport the heartbeat of the economy continues. We are aware that transport is an enabling sector, which impacts on growth and development in other sectors of the economy,” Martin said during his Budget Vote in Parliament on Tuesday.
However, owing to the prevailing economic climate, Treasury was not able to finance the current infrastructure backlog, thus private sector investment was welcome.
National Transport Master Plan
Cabinet still has to approve the National Transport Master Plan (NATMAP), a long-term plan that will position transport as an enabler of social and economic developer.
NATMAP will also make sure infrastructure and services will respond to the needs of all South Africans, as well as see that the department meets its Millennium Development Goals. NATMAP will also ensure that the different modes of transport complement one another.
Martins said that the alignment between NATMAP and the National Development Plan (NDP) included the user-pay principle “in a manner that does not have crushing effect on the working class and the poor”.
In the 2013/14 financial year, the department’s budget allocation amounted to R42.3 billion, of which R18 billion would be transferred to provinces and municipalities for road maintenance. A total of R21.9 billion will go to state-owned companies and agencies, which were the department’s delivery agencies.
The department was building internal capacity to conduct the necessary oversight of state-owned companies.
“Significant progress has been made to align the strategies and annual performance plans of the state-owned companies and agencies of the department,” Martins said.
On an integrated transport model, Martins said major projects included establishing a single transport economic regulator, implementing a national corridor framework, finalising a national freight data base and completing the National Household Survey.
Water, sanitation, transport, energy and communications remained central to these goals.
Railway infrastructure
On railway infrastructure, Martins said the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) fleet renewal programme was concluded in December 2012. This will see a new coach assembly plant being built in Gauteng.
A total of 8 300 direct jobs will be created while another 22 000 jobs will also be produced. Some 579 coaches were delivered to Metro rail in 2012/13, while R221 million was used to upgrade and improve 49 stations. In March 2013, the total capital spend of R6.2 billion was reached.
Because of apartheid planning, communities were living close to railway lines, a situation that placed the safety of especially children at risk. Evidence showed that poor spatial planning was a major cause of people being struck by trains in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.
“On the other hand, criminal activities such as cable theft, the theft and vandalizing of signalling equipment remains a concern as it results in exorbitant operational costs,” Martins said.
Prasa, the South African Police Service and the Rail Safety Regulator were working on dealing decisively “with this problem that amounts to economic sabotage”.
South African National Road Agency
On the South African National Road Agency (Sanral), Martins said South Africa has a 750 000km long road network, of which Sanral managed 17 000km.
The non-toll road network accounted for 83.1 percent of the national network funded by the fiscus. In 2012/13 Sanral awarded 202 contracts for new works rehabilitation, improvement and routine development.
The Road Management Corporation has passed its target of stopping and checking a million vehicles a month. Its new target is 1.1 million vehicles a month.
On maritime safety, Martins said 2013 has been declared Maritime Year, adding South Africa has signed the Djibouti Code of Conduct that empowered it to share resources and information with other countries in the fight against piracy and other crimes at sea. – SAnews.gov.za
