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16 February 2009

Madam Speaker
Honourable Premier
Honourable Members
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Let me first take this opportunity to congratulate the Honourable Premier for such an excellent and well articulated State of the Province Address, which has silenced the “Doubting Thomases”, who never believed that this team could deliver so much in such a short space of time.

We have, indeed, managed to hit the ground running! I believe that the address further restored the confidence of the people of the Eastern Cape to the African National Congress (ANC) led government and I hope that will be confirmed on the 22nd of April 2009.

I have every reason to have such expectation, because the Premier’s address gave a full and comprehensive account of what we have managed to achieve during this term as mandated by our people.

Working together with our people, we have been able to implement the mandate that we received in 2004 to build a people’s contract to create work, and fight poverty, and the advancement towards the realisation of our election manifesto target of halving unemployment and poverty by 2014.

It is evident that we remain on course in our offensive to defeat poverty and underdevelopment, and to permanently vanquish the legacy of apartheid, which continues to haunt the democratic developmental state. Our response to poverty is through paying particular attention to improving access to economic opportunities, thus expanding the frontiers of opportunity through directing resources to the poorest of the poor, while simultaneously accelerating growth and transformation of our economy.

In undertaking this task, our most effective weapon is the creation of decent work through 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.

Our Expanded Public Works Programme results clearly illustrate our commitment as government of the Eastern Cape to create jobs, promote training and skills development, and improve services to poor communities with specific interventions in poor households.

Already, we have appointed 9 593 household contractors to maintain low volume roads as part of our Sakha Isizwe EPWP/Community based Transportation Programme. Additional 7000 households will be appointed this year. We have further appointed 106 road rangers to monitor stray animals in Amathole (14), Alfred Nzo (11), Chris Hani (54), OR Tambo (19) and Ukhahlamba (8).

The Premier has alluded to the fact that we have adopted a ten years plan, which seeks to change the ratio of gravel to surfaced roads, as we intend to have 80% of provincial roads tarred. We believe that this approach will play a pivotal role in facilitating economic growth and development in the province. Visible progress can be witnessed in various parts of the province, where our alternative surfacing units have already started working on certain roads that lead to schools, clinics, tourism destinations, police stations and hospitals.

Preparation for 2010 FIFA World Cup
As we prepare for this international football showpiece, more infrastructure development projects are underway, including the rehabilitation of the R72 between East London Airport and Lilyvale, which is scheduled for completion by April 2009. During the new financial year, the Fonteinskloof to Nanaga section will commence with construction at a cost of R170 million and will be completed in April 2010. The R72 tolling strategy social impact study will be completed in May 2009.

Other 2010 FIFA World Cup infrastructure projects are:
* N10 to Alicedale, which is currently under construction at a cost of R79 million
* Mortherwell to Addo road, which is costing R43 million
* Bhisho Airport upgrade which cost R78 million
* Mthatha Airport upgrade. Designs have been completed.

We have already started to strengthen our traffic law enforcement capacity through recruiting 160 youth to join our learnership project. As we speak, the first group of 50 young people is undergoing training at the Port Elizabeth Traffic College.

This approach will enable us to continue with the steady decline in road accidents, following a successful arrive alive campaign during the 2008/09 festive season, where the Eastern Cape recorded a 30% decrease.

Other roads projects
The Basic Study on the Wild Coast Meander has been completed. It lifted all the key environmental, social and economic issues related along the area between the N2 and the coastline between Mooiplaas and Port St Johns. The study was extended in June 08 to deal with all the roads leading towards the coast.
As part of accelerating our implementation of the meander, the Department of Roads and Transport has appointed a consultant to commence with the detailed designs of the section of the road from Coffee Bay to Zithulele.

We have received an additional R300 million during the adjustment appropriation process which was allocated to the inaccessible roads programme. Already R150 million of this money has been spent and 65% of the roads planned for maintenance completed.

Kei Rail
Honourable Premier, it is a great privilege for me to report that on Thursday this week, we will be unveiling the new Kei Rail Coaches in preparation for the commencement of the daily service on 01 March 2009. We have finalised our 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 stations’ 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 Apple Express Tourism Service is already showing signs of tourism boost to the small towns along the line.

Very soon, we will open a rail centre of excellence in partnership with Walter Sisulu University at Chiselhurst in East London in an effort to effectively transform the rail industry.
BRT Progress

Honourable Members, I am happy to report that the widely publicised taxi industry strike in the Nelson Mandela Metro finally came to an end on Friday paving the way for the continuation of work and continuous engagement with relevant stakeholders. In this province, we continue to work together with the public transport fraternity to improve the quality of services to our people.
As a result, 3 964 taxis have been scrapped making us the leading province in the country. A total of R198 million has been paid out to operators as a scrapping allowance.

The restructuring of the subsidised bus passenger transport services is continuing. The roll out of the Africa’s Best 350 (AB350) buses is expected 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
Honourable members, 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 using various measures in an effort to accelerate a sustainable, equitable and inclusive growth path to address our priorities for the next five years as enshrined in the ANC’s manifesto.

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.

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Roads and Transport, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
16 February 2009