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Thank you Chairperson, our Minister of Minerals and Energy Affairs, Comrade Phumzile Mlambo-Ncguka. Ladies and Gentlemen, my input today should be seen as a snap progress report in a number of key areas of this cluster (economic and social), highlighted by the President in his State of the Nation Address on Friday last week. I hope to give you a more comprehensive and detailed report back of my Department's activities and programmes shortly after my budget vote speech later in the year.

Our top priority in transport for the current year relates to safety - safety on the road, at sea, in the air and on rail. Speaking of safety on rail, I wish to join the President in conveying once again our heartfelt condolences to the families and relatives of the twenty-six people who died during the train accident between a Metrorail passenger train and a stationary Spoornet goods train near charlotte's dale, about 70km north of Durban last week.

To those who are still in hospital, I wish them a speedy recovery. May I indicate that I will be attending the mass funeral of the victims tomorrow at new Groutville cemetery preceded by a service at the Chief Albert Luthuli Hall to comfort families, give support and to assure them that Government cares for them and takes their safety very seriously. By direction of the Minister of Public Enterprises, Minister Jeff Radebe, Government has appointed a Board of Enquiry into the accident. Prof. Mandla Mchunu, former Chief Electoral Officer, chairs the board. We are expecting the Board to submit its findings by 28 February 2002.

Metrorail and Spoornet resort under Transnet, which in turn accounts to the Minister of Public Enterprises. Hence the initiative of Minister Radebe who has acted in consultation with me.

Rail infrastructure

Rail, and only rail, can move high volumes of passengers quickly, safely, with minimal pollution and on a sustainable long-term basis. Its fixed infrastructure not only provides tangible evidence of the Government's commitment to public transport, but also provides the natural backbone for an integrated transport policy in which buses and taxis extend the reach of the system. There are now 75 modal interchanges in operation nation-wide.

The upgrading of Metrorail rolling stock and signalling equipment continues. In July last year, I launched the new 10M4 series of coaches. By the end of this year, we would have upgraded 176 Metrorail coaches. In addition, there are currently 15 projects under way to upgrade signalling systems at various places. Across South Africa 73 train station upgrades have been completed. A further 14 upgrade projects are currently in progress. In the spirit of Vuk' uzenzele I call upon all South Africans to take pride and protect these and other upgrades whether stations or general infrastructure. This is your property.

The rail system has been starved of investment for many years. The rolling stock is ageing and outdated in design. The current network still does not serve our fastest-growing areas. It desperately needs an injection of new capital and new commercial technical skills to enable us to get the best out of the system.

My Department is currently working intensively with the South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC) to come to a final assessment of the investments required to bring the infrastructure and rolling stock up to an acceptable level. It is envisaged that the various funding scenarios will be presented to Cabinet soon.

A shift towards a better balance between road and rail in both freight and passenger transport is still our priority. We want to make rail transport more attractive and the preferred mode of transport. The issue of overloading on our roads is also being dealt with to eliminate unfair competition between road and rail.

Rail safety regulator

Whether rail remains state-owned, partially or fully privatised and whether one or more operators provide our rail service, no Government with a fundamental commitment to its people's safety can shirk its full regulatory responsibility. To this effect, we will be creating an independent agency with the necessary legislative power, enforcement capability and human resource capacity to effectively monitor and manage rail safety risk, taking action wherever appropriate to ensure that such risk remains firmly within internationally acceptable norms.

My department is finalising a draft National Railways Safety Regulator Bill after a long process of consultation with local stakeholders and with the assistance of international experts. Cabinet has already approved the Bill. It is now in the parliamentary process. The Portfolio Committee on Transport will hold public hearings on the Bill on 20th and 27th February 2002. The Portfolio Committee will then sit for deliberations and formal consideration of the Bill on 06 March 2002. There is also a responsibility on our operators to ensure compliance with all safety standards and this does not have to wait for the Bill to become law. Once the rail safety regulator begins to function, the historically inherited institutional arrangements in terms of which the operator is both player and referee will come to an end.

Road safety
Let me turn my attention to road safety. In November 2001, we launched South Africa's comprehensive new road safety strategy, which we have called the Road to Safety, 2001-2005. The strategy is all about getting to grips with the underlying causes of crashes and deaths on our roads. It looks at systems and structures and proposes a wide range of interlinked investment programmes and reform actions to radically improve the safety of the total road environment.

Wherever possible, it opens up space for public empowerment, private sector and community participation. We want this strategy to belong to the whole country. Once again, we hope to do this within the central theme outlined by the President when he asked South Africans to "Vuk' uzenzele".

The Road to Safety strategy puts a high priority on coordinated action in all the key areas of road safety: law compliance, driver fitness and training, vehicle condition, fleet regulation, overload control, pedestrian education, direct community road safety participation and active passenger and public empowerment. Since the announcement of the road to safety strategy in November 2001, the Department has developed an implementation business plan.

This provides for fourteen projects, which are:

1. Driver fitness;
2. Vehicle fitness;
3. Fraud and corruption;
4. Professionalism in traffic fraternity;
5. The Arrive Alive campaign;
6. National Traffic Information Centre;
7. Traffic Information Systems;
8. Fleet Operations Management;
9. Pedestrian Safety; and
10. Overload control.

In my budget speech, I will report on progress.

Aviation safety

Our general civil aviation safety record remains good. A number of incidents - criminal in nature - have taken place at the Johannesburg International Airport, which have shown the need for increased vigilance, safety and security around all our strategic points of entry.

To this effect, Government has launched Operation Octopus, a joint operation by the South African Police Service and the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA). Police presence at all our airports has been enhanced both at the passenger and cargo terminals.

The SA Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) continues to play an invaluable role in aviation safety awareness campaigns. Their campaigns create greater awareness within the aviation industry and amongst the flying public.

Aviation infrastructure

A study on feasibility of the La Merci (King Shaka) Airport project was completed some time ago. Discussions were held with ACSA and the strategic equity partnership (SEP) Aeroporti Di Roma. Cabinet previously agreed to the relocation of Durban International Airport to La Merci. The new airport will be known as the king Shaka International Airport. Cabinet will give direction on how the process should unfold when it discusses the progress report which it will receive before the end of February 2002.

There have been spectacular improvements at airports such as Johannesburg International, Cape Town International, Durban International and a number of smaller airports. The construction of the new domestic terminal at the Johannesburg International will be completed by the end of year.

Maritime safety

In the area of maritime safety, there have been various general improvements in coastal safety systems. South Africa has contributed actively to search and rescue in the southern oceans with the establishment of an operational satellite-linked local user terminal and mission control centre in Cape Town, which is operated by Telkom. Regional coordination of maritime search and rescue capability is also being improved through new search and rescue agreements that have been concluded with Argentina, Mozambique, Australia and France.

The South African Maritime Safety Authority is steadily improving its capacity to monitor safety standards on foreign vessels. Over the past year, nearly 800 ships calling at South Africa's seven major ports were inspected. Vessels not in compliance with international safety standards were detained until the deficiencies were corrected. It may not have hit South Africa as yet, but hijacking of vessels is a big problem in other parts of the world.

Road infrastructure

Over the past few years, significant investments have gone into the Maputo development corridor, the N3 road project and the Lubombo road. As recent as last week, I officially launched the N4 Platinum Highway, which closes the link between the Maputo harbours in Mozambique with Walvis Bay in Namibia, creating the first high quality transcontinental route in sub-Saharan Africa.

This road, the N4 Platinum Highway, will ultimately lead to better utilisation of road, maritime and rail transport infrastructure. Through this project, export and shipping times are reduced with as much as ten shipping days while the distance by road between Johannesburg and Windhoek is shortened by some 500 kilometres.

Construction on this road will see a total investment by the private sector of approximately R3billion over the 30-year concession. What is significant in this is investment by foreign investors.

All the investments for these concession projects have been sourced from the private sector, working on the BOT principle and the introduction of tolling. This has also contributed indirectly to national development by freeing-up these resources for allocation elsewhere.

We can therefore make a strong case for additional fiscal support for non-toll infrastructure investment, on the basis of resources already saved. My Department - in consultation with the South African National Roads Agency - is working on a roads development plan for South Africa to improve our roads.

Promoting mobility

A national bicycle transport initiative known as Shova Kalula (or ride easy) has been initiated and it enjoys support from all levels of government and the private sector. The programme has already been launched at six sites:

1. Langa and Khayelitsha in the Western Cape;
2. Mzinti in Mpumalanga;
3. Soshanguve and Mabopane in Gauteng;
4. In the Northern Province;
5. In the Free State; and
6. In the North West.

Shova Kalula is targeted at primary and secondary school students in our most disadvantaged rural and urban settings. In a later phase it is hoped to focus on the many thousands of urban workers and rural workers, particularly women, who currently have to walk long distances to get to work.

The extension of bicycle transport in both rural and urban areas is not, however, just a matter of facilitating access to bikes and creating jobs related to their maintenance. The safety aspect of cycle use is now a key element in urban renewal planning processes. As we saw last year when the President launched the R1.3 billion renewal programme for Alexandra, the provision of safe and convenient cycle tracks alongside every upgraded street or road is a major component of the Alexandra infrastructure upgrade.

Local authorities and provinces are also taking into account the need to provide for cyclists and pedestrian in road planning and design.

Rural development, urban renewal and poverty alleviation

The President emphasised the accelerated provision of infrastructure and integrated transport services in the context of Government's integrated rural development and urban renewal programmes. On rural development, my Department has already taken steps to address key issues of access and mobility experienced by our rural communities.

It has completed an in-depth analysis of the areas of Lusikisiki in the Oliver Tambo region of the Eastern Cape, Nongoma in KwaZulu-Natal and Bushbuck Ridge in the Northern Province. These areas coincide with the areas that have been identified by the Government as target areas for development in terms of the integrated and sustainable rural development strategy.

When it comes to the development of urban corridors, a number of them were identified and developed in Kwazulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape and Gauteng. For example:

* Umtumvuna taxi rank in the lower South Coast area;
* Roads were upgraded in the Warwick Avenue corridor in Durban to ease links to the highways, and pedestrian facilities were developed to enhance pedestrian safety;
* A link road was built as part of the Khulani corridor that provides a direct link between New Brighton and Port Elizabeth;
* Various link roads and storm water systems were upgraded as part of the Wetton Lansdowne corridor in Cape Town;
* The Jack Mincer taxi rank was developed in Johannesburg to ease the congestion at Noord Street; and
* The road linking Rosslyn in Greater Tshwane area and Mabopane was upgrade in order to increase traffic safety.

The extension of Khayelitsha rail line was identified and the SARCC is currently in the process of planning for this extension. The Department is currently working closely with the Gauteng Department of Transport and Johannesburg Unicity in establishing a taxi rank in Alexandra and upgrading roads and other transport facilities in the area.

In the meantime, practical poverty alleviation programmes have been going ahead. In the previous (1999/2000) financial year we were allocated R100 million for roads improvements to the eastern cape and northern province. This was used through the national roads agency to complete 55 engineering projects, mainly focussed on re-gravelling rural roads, building drainage systems and carrying out minor bridge works. For the current financial year (2001/2002) a further r94 million was allocated.

SANRAL will use this amount for road improvements. The funds have been divided between national and provincial government and projects will be carried out in the Western Cape, Kwazulu-Natal, free state and the Northern Province during this year.

Black economic empowerment

Black economic empowerment is a major objective of Government. And as the President said, shareholding is but one of the black empowerment components. Black economic empowerment and development should be entrenched within contracts so that SMMEs can really develop. In transport, we promote the use of targeted procurement, which ensures the development of entrepreneurs, SMMEs and the growth of affirmable business enterprises (ABES). A classical example in this regard is the concession contract of the Bakwena Consortium.

New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)

In his State of the Nation Address, the President noted the importance to strengthen our involvement in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Transport infrastructure and services will play an important role in NEPAD. Government focus is on all modes of transport. Currently there is a special focus on aviation, airports, air services and regulation.

We are seeking to speed up the process of implementing the Yamoussoukro decision on open skies for Africa, and are reviewing - and where necessary re-negotiating - our existing range of bilateral air service agreements. We are also looking at increasing flights to and from SA to promote tourism. We are reviewing and where necessary renegotiating existing range of bilateral air service agreements.

These are some of our programmes, which we will be looking at during this year and beyond. Our commitment to push back the frontiers of poverty will also be strengthened in all our activities and projects.

Enquiries: Mike Mabasa, at 083 680 7048, Fax: (021) 461 6845,

Issued by Ministry of Transport

15 February 2002