Date: 16/02/2006
Source: Gauteng Department of Public Transport
Title: Jacobs: Gauteng Public Transport, Roads and Works media briefing, February 2006


  Statement by the Gauteng MEC for Public Transport, Roads and Works, Ignatius Jacobs

We are not here to speak about promises; we are here to speak about delivery! We are here to speak about improving the quality of life of the residents of Gauteng and the people of South Africa in general.

The State of the province address by the Premier of Gauteng, Mr Mbhazima Shilowa accounted for the work of the Gauteng Provincial Government in this current term of office. It further envisioned the work that government should continue to do, in an effort to try to make sure that the ideals in the 'age of hope' speech by the President are realised.

The State of the Province address posed a number of challenges for both Public Transport and Public Works to ensure that our province prosper socially and economically. As a Department the challenge for us is to ensure that Public Works makes Gauteng Work and that the movement of people, goods and services; realises the five strategic priorities of the province.

In terms of building better communities and efforts to ensure that we create jobs and fight poverty by focusing on the 20 townships identified by the Premier; the following work has already began through our socioeconomic infrastructure development programme;

Job creation and Poverty Alleviation

1. We are currently busy with identifying trading spaces, sidewalks, bridges, green areas, sports fields and facilitate skills development through the venture and construction learnerships, through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). Through this we will be able to employ young people, women and people with disabilities.

2. We have further identified 10 community heritage sites for implementation in the next 24 months. This is in partnership with the Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation (SACR). Four sites are being rolled out in Duduza, Thokoza and Boipatong Heritage sites. Six other sites have been identified in the EPWP.

3. These are ongoing Siyasebenza projects which include the development of schools' sports fields. The project is labour intensive and will facilitate poverty reduction and skills development. These projects provide new opportunities in the maintenance of schools' overall infrastructure e.g. ablution facilities and sewer piping.

4. In partnership with Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment (DACE), the Department is using the farmer settlement programme as a basis to develop agricultural projects on identified farm land in Gauteng. EPWP will follow the Gauteng Agricultural Strategy as a guide to implement these projects. The projects will be started in Elandsfontein and Rietfontein farms, blending dairy and beef farming, piggery, large scale hydroponics and vertical gardening, and in-land fisheries.

5. EPWP will further focus on a roll-out programme of roads and stormwater to contribute to the Accelerated Service and Growth Initiative of SA (ASGISA) as announced by the Premier. Accompanying this initiative will be necessary assessments and upgrades, of the sewer network system in adversely depressed areas like Evaton and Winterveld.

6. Through EPWP, we will assess and implement a programme of converting boilermakers to be on a uniform platform i.e. conversion from being coal-driven to an electrical platform at the Gauteng hospitals. This is an excellent opportunity to develop artisans in the electrical and mechanical fields. It is an initiative that will create a skills basis for the maintenance of boilers at cyclical and regular intervals as per the product life cycle maintenance requirements.

7. The Department will launch two construction contact centres (CCCs) in Johannesburg CBD and Funda Centre in Soweto next month. We will further roll out another 10 CCCs throughout the province during this current financial year. The purpose of these centres is to be build entrepreneurs, business people, small, micro and medium businesses in construction and assist them with financial viability and employment creation capacity. We are currently working with Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), Sector Education and Training Authority (SETAs), KFW, Umsobomvu Youth Fund, GEP, Blue IQ, Construction Education and Training Authority (Ceta), and the banks. The other 10 CCCs to be launched will be based in the rest of the regions of Gauteng; i.e. Tshwane, West Rand, Ekurhuleni, etc.

All these projects will prioritise the 20 townships as identified by the Premier. We are working and will continue to work together with local government, through community development workers and other role-players which would ensure that we realise the objective of making Gauteng a better place to live and work in.

Capital projects

The total cost of projects which commenced during the current financial year, of which some will continue in the next financial year will be up to the amount of R362 million. These projects will include;

* Coronation Hospital - Upgrading of casualty, OPD and pharmacy
* Helen Joseph Hospital - Breast clinic
* Mamelodi Hospital - New hospital
* Polson Hospital - New pharmacy
* Sebokeng Hospital - Hospital upgrade * Stretford CHC - New CHC phase 2
* Tembisa Hospital - Upgrade of the ICU, burns, OPD and casualty units
* Weskoppies Hospital - Two new wards
* Yusuf Dadoo Hospital - New pharmacy
* Upgrading of the Pretoria State Theatre
* Walter Sisulu Place of Safety - Secure care upgrade)
* Upgrading of George Thabe Stadium
* Upgrading of HM Pitje Stadium
* Upgrading of Sinaba Stadium

The implementation of capital projects and other socio-economic infrastructure development projects are implemented in line with the infrastructure summit held last year. This we implement in line with the implementation plan of the resolutions taken at the summit by all stakeholders.

Public transport

We are creating a coherent and sensible plan for public transport so that it can become the preferred mode of transport for all residents in Gauteng. The main plans will be the integrated public transport plan and the provincial road network. These strategic plans, the Premier referred to will make sure that everybody has access to safe, affordable and reliable public transport with quality improving all the time

The plans will ensure that we contribute directly to economic growth, to the creation of work opportunities and the fight against poverty and to resolving the growing congestion problem on our roads. Besides being committed to transforming public transport in partnership with local government, we will work with all stakeholders, from commuters and business to organised labour, taxi operators and Metrorail.

We will prioritise the needs of commuters but not neglect the needs of operators. We are currently involved in a process to launch a commuter organisation which will ensure that the rights of commuters are protected. Last year, we launched the Interim Public Passenger Stakeholders Forum and this year we will continue to work closely with them seeking their views and co-operation. We will prioritise rail in the province's main corridors where the requirement is the mass movement of large numbers of passengers. Rail is fast and convenient and is a powerful mechanism to increase land use densities and promote economic agglomeration - simply put, people want to live, work and run their factories or businesses near a passenger rail service, particularly if that service is safe, efficient and reliable

In this respect the Gautrain is an integrated part of the rail network, servicing the corridors between Tshwane, Johannesburg and the Johannesburg International Airport - connecting the economic heartland of our province. We are currently working with national government, South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC) and Metrorail to improve rail services to accommodate larger numbers and attract commuters currently using road transport. With rail as a mass mover of people, buses are most efficient along medium to high density corridors and routes within metropolitan areas

We will work with the operators in the local authorities and private sector to align bus and taxi routes in order to ensure maximum possible accessibility to the particular mode of transport which is most suitable to the individual commuter's requirements. We are working towards co-ordinating the provincial subsidised bus service and the metro bus services offered by Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg. These subsidised buses must prioritise services to our poorest citizens and the areas in the province where rail and taxis do no service optimally. When the Gautrain is up and running we will ensure that these services and the approximately 300 Gautrain feeder buses complement each other and do not duplicate routes. We will start to issue new tenders for the subsidised bus services this year, which will also ensure improved service delivery and broad based black economic empowerment

We must use taxis for high accessibility and flexibility and support them through the process of formalisation and recapitalisation, of which the conversion to operating licenses is a critical first step. I would like to extend my appreciation to the industry for their co-operation in this regard and commit my department to complete this process by the deadline of May 2006 set by the national Minister. These interchanges will make connections fast and easy and provide shopping and services for those who want to do their errands on the way to or from somewhere else. They will be economic hubs offering opportunities for small businesses and local economic development

This will be one of the places where integrating transport with economic development of the province will be most visible. The contribution of a good transport infrastructure goes way beyond the opportunities for local economic development provided by well planned interchange hubs. This contribution will become most obvious as reduced journey times for goods and people bring real cuts in the cost of doing business in Gauteng. Together with enabling public transport operators to be better, safer, and more efficient, we are paying attention to the road infrastructure on which buses and taxis have to operate.

Just to give you a sense of how roads are also still firmly in our sights, here are a few figures: New road construction includes the completion of JIA Interchange; the start last October of the K29 phase 1, Cosmo City construction; the start last June of the K60, Sunninghill road; the maintenance of 2 515 km, the rehabilitation of 9 km and the resealing of 128 km of provincial roads in the past year

This has helped us train 507 people and create 6 345 jobs, while 55 % of procurement went to Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) companies. We are including public transport friendly measures such as lighting, better shelters and stops on all routes on which a lot of public transport travels. This is a logical step followed in many countries towards the broader challenges of integrated transport and traffic management, because it takes into account the real cost to the taxpayer, the environment and the sustainability of our cities and our economy of burgeoning motor traffic.

It says that commuters should be free to use their cars alone and at peak time if they wish, but that they should pay the real cost to the country of the road network and traffic management if they choose to do so. The contribution of integrated public transport will be visible as our cities become more efficient through better land use as business and residential communities develop closer to public transport and when workers have more money to spend as the proportion of incomes spent on travelling to and from work comes down

It will be seen when tourist numbers grow because access to the many attractions our province has to offer, from shopping in Sandton to the Cradle of Humankind and the Apartheid Museum to the Union Buildings becomes easier for visitors from around the world. And a better public transport system overall, with Gautrain as a central element, will contribute to urban regeneration, particularly in the CBDs of Tshwane and Johannesburg - in fact, we are beginning to see signs of this, with promotional material for residential developments in Braamfontein explicitly mentioning the proximity of the future Gautrain station.

The transformation of public transport and maximising it contribution growth and prosperity in the province is a long term task. However this can be accelerated with enhanced co-ordination between government and between government and operators. This year will see us developing policy and legislation to establish a province-wide transport integration and co-ordination body to lead public transport planning and implementation processes in Gauteng.

This body will complement the establishment of Transport Authorities by some municipalities. The Transport Authorities are critical instruments to improve local level service delivery and enable co-ordination between transport and other local government responsibilities such as land use planning and metro policing. As the Premier has announced, we will also establish the Gautrain Management Agency to run the Gautrain Project in a focused and orderly way which allows the management of the challenges inherent in any project of this size

Finally let me note that there is an enormous amount of work being done by provincial and national government officials and private sector planners, engineers and transport experts to create and implement the very viable strategies we are embracing. But we will not get there overnight, it is going to take years of work and a good deal of perseverance by government and our people as we get things right

It is worth doing so because a trip to any region anywhere in the world which has a functioning public transport system will tell us that we are creating economic infrastructure for the long term. This is the vision we must embrace if we want to make Gauteng a globally competitive city region. This vision will enable us to make Gauteng a better place to live and work in.

Issued by: Gauteng Department of Public Transport, Roads and Works
16 February 2006