Pretoria - Transport Minister Dipuo Peters says steady progress is being made to improve the condition of the country’s roads.
Briefing reporters before tabling her department’s R48.7 billion-budget in Parliament on Tuesday evening, Minister Peters said much has been done to upgrade road infrastructure in the 20 years of democracy.
“With regard to the state of our roads, 10% of our roads are in a very good condition, while 30% are actually just good. Sixty percent are fair to very poor, and this 60% is predominantly in our municipalities and rural areas and provinces,” she said.
The minister said the introduction of Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit, MyCiTi bus in Cape Town as well as A Re Yeng in Tshwane was among her department’s successes.
“One of the achievements that we can talk about that shows that South Africa is truly a better place is the integrated Gautrain Rapid Link, the construction of new airports such as King Shaka International in Durban and the upgrading of the existing ones in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Mthatha, Nelson Mandela Bay, Upington and Mangaung, as well as many others.
“We are also very proud to indicate the improvement on our road infrastructure, particularly the introduction of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project…” she said.
She also noted that her department’s role in the taxi recapitalisation programme would go a long way to transform the industry that transports about 65% of South Africans.
Another important development for the department is the upgrading of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), whose trains carry 2.2 million commuters to and from work every day.
The minister acknowledged, however, that access to transport must be improved for those living in peri-urban areas.
Budget allocation
The minister said more than R20 billion of the R 48.7 billion-budget is money that gets transferred to provinces and municipalities for road maintenance and public transport systems.
“The remaining resource is what we transfer to our agencies as well as other public utilities and we remain with 1.7% of the budget to do the administrative work of the department, as well as building capacity in the department,” she said.
Minister Peters said the department was currently training 120 civil engineering graduates, who will be absorbed by the department when they finish their studies. - SAnews.gov.za
