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26 February 2009

Executive Mayor and Councillors of the OR Tambo District Municipality
Mayors and Councillors from various Municipalities within the District
Traditional leaders
Representatives from the business fraternity
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Let me first take this opportunity to congratulate the Executive Mayor of the OR Tambo District, Councillor Capa and her team, for such a prestigious investor conference, which provides a platform for various stakeholders to participate actively in the acceleration of service delivery to our people and economic growth in this region and our province.

Clearly, government alone cannot be expected to deliver a better life for all. A multi-agency collaboration is necessary and should be centred on a people's contract to create work, and fight poverty in an effort to advance towards the realisation of our Millennium Development Goals and Provincial Growth and Development Plan targets of halving unemployment and poverty by 2014.

I think this conference needs to draw inspiration from the words used by the architect of our liberation and democracy, the son of this soil, who hailed from the valleys of Ingeli Mountain, Cde Oliver Reginald Tambo, when he opened the International Solidarity Conference in February 1993 on the theme "From Apartheid to Peace, Democracy and Development."

Cde Tambo said: "Our programmes will have to address the desperate needs and concerns of the poor and the oppressed those who were despised and denied the most elementary human right."

We cannot claim to be revolutionaries, comrades and descendants of Oliver Tambo, if we fail to put the interests of our people first by defeating poverty and under-development, which continue to haunt his people and the democratic developmental state.

Our response to this challenge is mainly to expand the frontiers of opportunity through directing resources to the poorest of the poor, while simultaneously accelerating growth and transformation of our economy. This can be done through the creation of decent work based on 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.

Community development through people driven projects

Many rural communities, especially in this district, are not connected to the main road network and do not have reliable access to socio-economic development opportunities and government services. In order for us to emerge victorious in our struggle against poverty and underdevelopment, it is essential for government to uplift the standard of living through the provision of basic services and infrastructure. It is a universally renowned fact that roads infrastructure forms the foundation for sustainable development as well as providing mobility for our people.

The current limited mobility and accessibility has entrenched the isolation and marginalisation of the majority of our people from the mainstream economy.
This situation warrants an urgent intervention by the democratic state in collaboration with its social partners in order to address this uneven development, which characterises the old apartheid and colonial arrangement.

Hence, as the Department of Roads and Transport, we decided to align our plan of hosting a Kei Development Corridor Conference with the District Municipality’s plans of hosting this investment conference today.

We have put resources in order to ensure that Kei Rail, Mthatha Airport and other initiatives of the Department are well understood and supported by local stakeholders. Guided by the principles of the Reconstruction and Development Programme and the Expanded Public Works Programme, we need to clearly demonstrate our commitment as government of the Eastern Cape, together with our municipalities, to create jobs, promote training and skills development, and improve services to poor communities with specific interventions in poor households.

The Department of Roads and Transport has made an indelible mark in that front through the appointment of 9 593 household contractors (of which 5 095 are women) to maintain low volume roads as part of our Sakha Isizwe EPWP/Community-based Transportation Programme, of which 2 087 households are from the OR Tambo District.

We have further appointed 120 road rangers in various districts to monitor stray animals, of which 33 are from OR Tambo. The contribution of these Road Traffic Safety Activists should not be underestimated, as they have been part of strategies and law enforcement used to enable this province to decrease road accidents by 30% during the 2008/09 festive season.

A total of 2 616 kilometres will be maintained in the OR Tambo District over the next three years through our Routine Road Maintenance Programme.
This will be supported by our Inaccessible Roads Plan and Alternative Surfacing Technologies Programme (which is a critical element of our 10 year roads infrastructure turn around plan), especially on roads such as:
* R61 to Holy Cross Hospital expected to start in May 2009
* Continuation of the Holy Cross Hospital Road in April 2010
* Ngqeleni to Mthatha Mouth expected to start in April 2009
* R61 Sitshayela to Tembukazi expected to start in April 2009
* DR08313 to Canzibe Hospital expected to start in September 2009
* DR08170 to Lutana Clinic expected to start in October 2009
* Access Road to Qunu Administrative Area expected to start in April 2009
* Roads to Magwa tea plantation expected to start in April 2009
* Continuation of the Port St Johns Intervention Project in April 2009

We have also earmarked the roads to Mvezo Great Place and Nelson Mandela Museum's Mvezo branch, Tina falls and to the town of Ntabankulu. There are some major road upgrades that are taking place in this district, which have created jobs for our people. These include:
* Sulenkama Hospital Road
* Greenville Hospital Road
The Wild Coast Meander construction from Tombo to Mpamba will commence in October 2009, followed by the stretch between Zithulele and Coffee Bay, Coffee Bay to Mqanduli and Madwaleni Hospital Road.

In our budget allocation, we have decided to balance funding for new surfaced roads and the maintenance of the existing roads.
As a result, heavy rehabilitation is expected on the following roads:
* Flagstaff to Lusikisiki in November 2009
* Siphethu Hospital Road (designs have been completed)
* Phakade to Magusheni and Magusheni to Mzamba (designs are nearing completion)

Light rehabilitation is expected to commence soon on roads such as:
* Ndwalane to Port St Johns, Mampube to Port St Johns and Port St Johns to Ntafufu
* N2 to Ntabankulu
* Lusikisiki to Mbotyi and Lusikisiki to Bambisane Hospital
* Magusheni to Flagstaff
* Viedgesville to Mqanduli

Back to rail

Three months ago, we adopted a 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 Mthatha Train Station has been earmarked for major development to become a public transport hub, where our people can access trains, buses and taxis. On that note, I would like to bring to the attention of this conference that this coming Sunday, 1 March 2009, we will commence the Kei Rail Daily Service with brand new state of the art coaches worth R21 million.

Mthatha Airport progress

The Mthatha Airport upgrade preparations remain on course. Designs have been completed and submitted to the department earlier this month.

I would like to invite delegates in this conference to visit the Department of Roads and Transport Exhibition Stand to view those designs. Physical construction can be expected by July 2009.

Discussions are underway with various investors, who would like to invest on both Bhisho and Mthatha Airports in support of our Blue Skyway Aviation Strategy. Our main intention is to:

* Have a second airline between Mthatha and Johannesburg, including an evening flight. A future link to Durban from Mthatha is envisaged as soon as the correct type of service is developed. An important goal is to link Port Elizabeth to Mthatha via Bhisho with the service geared for faster movement between these three areas and to reduce the number of government vehicles on these routes.
* Ensure that Mthatha Airport contributes in tourism development in the region through improving access to the Wild Coast, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.
* Ensure that the Airport contributes to local business development
* Facilitate connectivity with local businesses as people will now come directly to Mthatha instead of flying to East London and then drive for three hours.

AB 350 progress

The restructuring of the subsidised bus passenger transport services is continuing smoothly, especially in the former Transkei region. The roll out of the Africa’s best 350 (AB350) buses is expected to 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

Ladies and gentlemen, 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 in an effort to accelerate a sustainable, equitable and an inclusive growth path to address our priorities.

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.

However, as I have alluded earlier, government alone cannot achieve much and that necessitates the strengthening of intergovernmental, inter-sectoral, and multi-stakeholder relations which are underpinned by unity of purpose, a common and shared vision of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.

"Quality service delivery through transportation excellence"

I thank you.

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