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Date : 29/06/2004
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Title: A Mahlalela: Mpumalanga Roads & Transport Prov Budget Vote 2004/2005


BUDGET AND POLICY SPEECH BY MPUMALANGA MEC FOR ROADS AND TRANSPORT, MR AF MAHLALELA, MPL, 29 June 2004

Madam Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Honourable Members,
Mayors and Councillors,
Distinguished guests,
Friends and comrades.

Our government's mandate of a people's contract to create work and fight poverty needs to be quantified to give it some practical meaning. Our First Ten Years of Freedom have been ten years of expanding opportunities to build a better life for all. The major challenges for the Second Decade of Freedom is to create work and roll back poverty.

It gives me pleasure Madam Speaker to present this budget, for the new Department of Roads and Transport, because it also gives us an opportunity to reflect on the impact that transport has on the infrastructure, on the daily lives of the masses of our people in realising the mandate of a People's Contract to Create Work and Fight Poverty. What then is the role of roads and transport in making this vision a reality?

Transport plays a vital role in the economy of the Province and that of South Africa. Transport contributes between 5% and 6,5% as a sector to the Gross Geographic Product (GGP) of the Province and therefore it is at the centre of our effort to achieve growth and development. The nature of transport infrastructure and operations has a bearing on the daily lives of the masses of our people who use various modes of transport to travel between their homes and places of work, learning, leisure, etc.

Our focus therefore has to be informed by the role that transport plays in the economy and the impact it has on the daily lives of ordinary people of Mpumalanga, as well as the enormous efforts made by government over the past ten years to restructure the transport sector and to serve the entire population regardless of race, colour, belief or creed.

We need to examine whether is it satisfactory to contribute only 5% of GGP as well as the 2,7% of formal employment towards the provincial GGP. If not satisfactory, what are the things that we need to do in the next coming year and beyond to make an improvement of that unacceptable situation. The success in changing the situation would not happen outside the continued interaction between the various stakeholders in the transport industry, the committee of this Honourable House and my department. We shall welcome all inputs and suggestions, which are aimed at taking our work one step forward from anybody including the ordinary people of this province.

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, since 1994 we have managed to produce a range of policies which were aimed at addressing specific needs of our province's spatial, economic, social and political inequalities which were as a result of the legacy of our past which still continues to characterise our transport infrastructural arrangement even today.

As the new Department of Roads and Transport, we have identified some of the following strategic priorities as the ones that will underpin our work, to:

* Improve the management and monitoring systems in order to deliver quality roads infrastructure;
* Promote the use of labour-intensive technologies in the delivery of transport infrastructure, especially in the construction and maintenance of rural roads;
* Improve the delivery of public transport;
* Work together with the National Department of Transport to develop a transport infrastructure investments framework;
* Improve the capacity of the Department to drive the developmental agenda of the democratic state.

Guided by the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), our vision is to provide a safe, affordable and reliable public transport system and quality infrastructure as well as increasing the frequency of public transport in the rural areas, its easy access to the most vulnerable groups, the elderly, people with disabilities and the learners. In order to realise this vision, we need to strengthen the nature of our interaction with local government so as to develop and implement an integrated transport-planning framework as required by the National Land Transport Transition Act (NLTTA).

The success of making public transport accessible and safe is highly dependable on our road infrastructure developments, which is a huge challenge for this department. We are currently faced with the challenge of building new surfaced roads leading to communities in the rural areas while at the same time maintaining the fast ageing and deteriorating roads network especially in the Gert Sibande Region.

The department currently, does not have an accurate road infrastructure backlog data, which makes budgeting as well as prioritising very difficult. As from next month we shall be commissioning an audit, which must be completed by November 2004. This audit will provide us with an updated backlog data of all our roads infrastructure as well as its financial implications. Presently the backlog is estimated at about R1, 7 billion for both rebuilding and maintenance based on the 1999 audit. This estimate does not include rural roads as well as roads leading to public institutions.

It is estimated that an amount of R1 683 billion will be required per financial year for the next four years as opposed to the current R552, 696 million to wipe out this backlog.

Although the Province has relatively good road network system if you exclude the sizeable number of roads in Gert Sibande, a significant portion of the rural population is still affected by poor mobility and accessibility. The quality of our roads infrastructure remains one of the greatest challenges that we face which requires that we come up with a clear strategy to resolve this critical area of work.

As a department, we commit ourselves that in line with the election manifesto, we shall make a huge contribution to our government's plan to drastically reduce unemployment by creating new jobs, providing assistance to small businesses, create opportunities for self employment and sustainable community transport infrastructure. We need to have compassionate government service to the people; we need to aggressively reduce preventable causes of death and disabilities resulting from road accidents.

As a means of creating work, fighting poverty and promoting equality, we will pay special attention to the following, as mandate of this Government:

* Spend more resources to fight poverty, build economic infrastructure and create work opportunities for our people;
* Invest more money in improving roads and rail infrastructure;
* Encourage the use of labour intensive methods in re-gravelling, maintenance and upgrading of roads.

If we are required to measure our progress in a scale of 1:10 over the past 10 year period, how can we measure our performance in terms of quality, competency, efficiency, skills profile, people's involvement in decision-making, clean and good governance. Madam Speaker, it's not my responsibility to allocate those points but whoever does that, need to measure our performance within the context of government's aim of a better life for all.

During the First Decade of Freedom, we worked hard and have successfully laid the basis for us to further improve the quality of life of our people. However, we need to take heed of what the Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel said during his 2004 Budget Speech, when he said "This is a freedom that opens up opportunities, but imposes disciplines; it is a freedom that creates capabilities, but expects stewardship;

It is a freedom that rewards enterprise, but calls for accountability, it is a Freedom we have used to build a new society, mould a new culture and create hope and opportunity for future generations".

Madam Speaker, I am standing before this august house today to present the 2004 /2005 budget of my Department, a budget that continues to reflect our commitment to push back the frontiers of poverty by working for the provision of safe, reliable, accessible and affordable transportation system for the majority of the masses of our people.

Let me take this opportunity Madam Speaker and Honourable Members to highlight our broad policies, priorities and strategic goals for the 2004 / 2005 financial year, which are as follows:

ROADS

The Department is responsible for the maintenance and upgrading of 7 327 km of surfaced roads as well as 16 641 km of gravel roads. As reflected earlier on, the quality of our roads need to be attended to as a matter of urgency. We need to establish other factors that make our roads to be of such poor quality beyond factors such as the extent of historical disrepair.

The extend to which the potential utilisation of roads is another important indicator of future spending requirements, the rate of utilisation determine the extent and timing of roads maintenance. The Intergovernmental Fiscal Review of 2003 reflects that our budget for road maintenance has decreased annually by more than 0,5%. The quality of the road network is highly depended on when and how maintenance is performed. This decrease in the maintenance budget over the past years has increased the escalation costs for maintenance. Over the next years, we shall allocate substantial amount for maintenance so as to continuously and timely maintain our roads to avoid further deterioration.

All our operation machines are ageing, making it difficult for the road workers to use them. This therefore compromises the Department's responsibility to continuously work on improving the road network, ensuring that it is well maintained and safe. The need to extend our work to provide road maintenance to roads and streets in the rural areas as well as all roads/streets leading to public institutions such as clinics, schools, community halls, graveyards, etc., poses more challenges. The personnel responsible for these roads maintenance is also composed of very old men and women who are not fit enough to carry this work hence a need to urgently replace some of them with young energetic workers who will be required to operate more like a Community Development Worker.

Roads infrastructure delivery is strategically located to make huge contributions to employment creation and poverty alleviation. In this, the Department of Roads and Transport will ensure that delivery of roads infrastructure provides an extensive support to the goals of the Expanded Public Works Programme. The Department has set aside an amount of R30, 845 million for roads infrastructure that would be directed to the Expanded Public Works Programme standards, which will include three learnership programmes (i.e. one in each District / Region). All these projects will be constructed and/or maintained using a labour-based intensive method.

We have begun to share some experiences with the Province of KwaZulu-Natal on how best to use this method in order to maximise the employment of local people in particular Women in the maintenance of rural roads. During the course of next month, we shall be visiting Limpopo Province, to study their best practices in roads construction using the labour-intensive method as part of a process of expanding our skills to effectively implement the Expanded Public Works Programme.

Our roads network in the Gert Sibande region has totally collapsed. In response to the Premier's directive that calls on our Department to urgently arrest the situation in that part of our Province, we have set aside an amount of about R142 million for new road constructions, reconstructions and maintenance covering roads such as Driefontein to Piet Retief, Elukwatini to Mooiplaas, Daggakraal to Amersfoort, Carolina to Wonderfontein (tender to be awarded not later than the end of next month), Leandra to Standerton, Bethal to Standerton/Kriel/Morgenzon. We are currently commissioning an audit on the status quo of all our Provincial, District as well as rural roads, which will culminate towards the convening of Roads Indaba before the end of the year. The Road Indaba will analyse and debate the audit report, provide various funding models for our roads infrastructure and other related matters.

We are currently in discussions with the South African National Roads Agency LTD (SANRAL) with a view of transferring N17 (Oshoek to Leandra) which is a national route but a provincial road, to the strategic network where they would fall under the responsibility of SANRAL. Further engagement with SANRAL will also include, looking at a possibility of joint operations in the upgrading of Barberton to Nelspruit road taking into consideration the current initiatives by the Nelspruit - Barberton business. It is our considered long-term view that this road should be broadened to allow easy mobility between the two towns for economic and social purposes.

Madam Speaker, we believe such initiatives will significantly relieve our Department of some of the financial pressure that we currently face in dealing with major road works initiatives and will allow us to reallocate resources towards other transport and road related matters that falls directly under our constitutional remit, such as rural roads and rural public transport and other related projects that we shall identify from time to time.

Madam Speaker, we shall continue to expand our road network, upgrading and maintenance of both our surfaced and gravel roads in the other regions i.e. Ehlanzeni and Nkangala during this financial year, with an allocation of about R80 million and R115 million respectively. In relation to Ehlanzeni Region, we shall do re-gravelling, upgrading and maintenance in various communities such as the continuation with construction of the Ntunda - Mgobodzi and Middelplaas to Schulzendal roads in Nkomazi with a view of completing them in the next financial year; Ngodini to Khumbula (which we have completed the planning and design), Clau-Clau to Zwelitsha road (tender to be awarded by the end of July); Sandriver to Nyongane (will be done in an EPWP); Pilgrim's Rest to Sabie; Lydenburg to Dullstroom as well as Mananga to Mtata road to mention but a few. The Gutshwakop to Luphisi re-gravelling will be used as a learnership for EPWP with a view of involving a greater number of women so as to prepare them for future utilisation in bigger road constructions as contractors.

Madam Speaker, we shall continue and complete the ongoing projects in Nkangala as well as starting new ones. We shall complete phase 1 of the Moloto Road this year and by the end of July, award tenders for the third phase with a view of completing them by the end of this financial year. Similar projects like the Ntunda to Mgobodzi road are under construction, namely Loding to Nokaneng, Kgobokwane to Philadephia Hospital roads. We shall upgrade Matlerekeng to Motsanangwana road, re-gravel the road between Marapyane to Lefiso/Lefisoane; Reseal the road between Delmas and Springs; Upgrade Marapyane to Senotlelo as one of our pilot fast tracking project as well as the Loskopdam to Stoffberg road as a learnership project with the same objectives as in other learnerships projects. These are some of the projects that we shall embark upon this financial year and for more projects information, Honourable members can refer to the Department's Strategic plan.

Madame Speaker, I am personally concern about the pace at which our two construction units (i.e. Unit A and C) is moving. These units are confronted by many challenges, which will require a total overhaul, which ranges from equipment as well as the personnel. We need to urgently review the utilisation of these units. I have instructed my department to come up with proposals on how best to utilise these units in a manner that would produce an outcome that have an immediate benefit to our people.

The awarding of the rights to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup by the World Soccer body (FIFA) has its own challenges. Transport infrastructure needs to be upgraded, properly maintained and transport operation needs to be drastically improved to meet these challenges. Our department will fully and actively participate in the Technical Infrastructure Steering Committee that has been endorsed by cabinet.

The overall challenge we face is to deliver road infrastructure and bridges that are of good quality. To meet these challenges, we need to develop a strong monitoring system of contract construction by building internal capacity within the road section, which is currently lacking. This incapacity by the road section is a direct course and the good recipe for poor quality service by contract contractors who in most instances collude with some consultants and exploit this weakness to maximise profit at the expense of public money. In the near distant future, I shall appoint a team to investigate and analyse all such roads using Auditor-General's report with a view of identifying such contractors and consultants in order to request them to redo the work that they have not properly done or be removed from our database.

We need to reduce the backlog of our road infrastructure drastically in the next coming years. The efficiently and effectively utilisation of the limited resources is therefore fundamental in the realisation of this goal.

TRANSPORT

Madam Speaker, Transport is the driving force for economic growth and development. A good transport system is necessary for efficient functioning of the economy. It creates economic opportunities and facilitates the movement of people, provides resources and outputs to industries and markets and enables people to access social services.

As a Province, we are strategically placed at the boarder of Mozambique and therefore also serve as a gateway to Africa. It is for this reason that the failure or success of transport in the province can easily be noticeable and felt.

Madam Speaker, allow me to quote the Minister of Transport, Hon. Jeff Radebe during his budget vote when he said "South Africa's current and projected economic and social demands on the transport sector are greater than the outputs the sector and its components can manage adequately at the moment. As a result, the transport sector and its components, not least of which are the myriad government and public contributions to this sector, need to be overhauled, transformed and re-energised to meet growing and expanding challenges. We must release the brakes that are holding the massive potential that exists in the transport system as a whole"

Public transport is concurrent function in terms of schedule 4A and 4B of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. It is in this context that the National Department of Transport is currently reviewing all our public transport. This review once completed, will determine the direction at which we should take as provinces. As part of a process of remedying the situation, we shall finalise the Provincial Land Transport Act this financial year. The Act will amongst other things give powers to the MEC to convert the nine (9) Bus Interim Contracts, which we are currently administering into Competitively Tendered Bus Contracts by way of open tender, or negotiations that will pave the way for BEE. It is our considered view that public transport should be expanded to include various modes so as to enable wider choices for commuters.

The current transport arrangement need to be restructured in a manner that eases the burden of costly transport to the public. The review will also look at the question of taxi subsidisation, as we all know that regardless of the fact that about 55% of commuters in the province uses minibus taxis, they are not subsidised.

The finalisation and careful rollout of the taxi recapitalisation programme could no longer be delayed. As part of the process of review, we shall convene the Provincial Taxi Indaba in July where amongst other issues beyond recapitalisation will be the resuscitation of the Taxi Co-operatives, the management of the industry, which include the functioning of their structures, marketing strategies etc. A recent study by CSIR revealed that over 80% of the taxi facilities (ranks and holding bays) in the country are not in good condition and will not accommodate the bigger vehicles. I have instructed the Department to do an audit in order to determine the state of each taxi rank.

We shall embark on a process of converting permits into operating licences once the Provincial Land Transport Act is passed and become operational. As part of a process of expanding public transport to be accessible and affordable to the most vulnerable groupings, people in rural areas, learners, elderly, people with disability and the unemployed. We need to reduce the burden of costs to these categories of people. This will include a rural transport strategy, which the Department will finalise by the end of this year. The strategy will include one-stop facilities for multimode as well as the review of the Shova Kalula site at Mzinti with a view of improving and expanding the project to other vulnerable areas.

During this financial year, we shall be conducting a study to identify new strategic corridors, which shall integrate various modes of transport as a catalyst to stimulate new development corridors. We are looking at developing corridors in the areas of Marble Hall, Groblersdal to Pretoria linking with the entire Sekhukhune; N11 linking with N4; N17 (Oshoek) to Leandra further linking it with Badplaas, Barberton to Nelspruit in preparation for 2010 Soccer World Cup. In collaboration with National Department of Transport, we will work together to stimulate marginal or low-density railway lines where these present the opportunities to unlock the economic potential of local communities.

Madam Speaker, we shall this year, ensure that all transport co-ordinating structures are resuscitated, which are MUNIMEC, local Transport Forum etc, to facilitate integrated planning.

The Department is also responsible for the provisioning and management of government fleet. We shall revisit the current trip authority / log book system, which is easily manipulated with a view of replacing them with a Vehicle Management Technology System. This system will curb usage of government vehicles on weekends and divergent from the mandated trips, which will significantly reduce costs.

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

Madame Speaker, one of the mandates of this department, which was previously not directly linked, to roads and transport is the promotion of safety in transport and regulations thereof. Traffic safety is about three E's; Engineering to produce better quality roads, Education to produce better behaviour and Enforcement to produce a System of policing and self policing.

Road safety statistics shows that transport safety is still a major problem. In order to assess whether there is some improvement in road safety trends, the number of crashes and fatalities have to be judged against the background of other factors such as the increase in the number of registered vehicles and the number of kilometres travelled. Unfortunately, the only available information is on the number of registered vehicles.

Information on accidents indicates that the number of traffic is significantly higher at night (mostly in policing areas that are within the competency of municipalities) and traffic law enforcement personnel do not work during these times. In order to address all these challenges, we shall increase the visibility of traffic officers by deploying 77 additional traffic officers by the beginning of July 2004 i.e. day after tomorrow; We shall intensify our education programme on road safety by focusing more on drivers attitudes, working with the department of education to make road safety part of the formal education curriculum and continue with other informal training to various road users.

We shall introduce shift-working system, which will allow our traffic officers to be visible on the road almost 24 hours as part of a process of intensifying the Arrive Alive campaign. We shall be merciless to road users who deliberately break the law by speeding, drunken driving, driving unroadworthy vehicles, overloading and reckless driving. These will be our key law enforcement areas over the next six (6) months. We shall provide training to the staff on accident reconstructing and investigation to enable the Department to keep reliable and updated Provincial Accident Register.

Some of the contributing factors to road accidents are caused by Testing Centres and Driving Schools by fraudulently providing licences. The department will within a distant future recruit and train 13 incorruptible officers to deal with these occurrences and other traffic related issues. Overloading is also a contributor to road accidents because it destroys our roads, which then become dangerous to road users. During this financial year, we shall acquire three (3) mobile overloading units, one in each region, and also embark on an intensive awareness campaign with transport companies in order to work in partnership with them to protect our roads infrastructure.

Madame Speaker, Honourable members, I have tried to outline a number of major challenges, but by no means all, the challenges we face in Roads and Transport are many.

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCIAL CONTROL

Before I conclude, my speech, Madam Speaker, let me deal with the administrative challenges. We need to radically strengthen the capacity of the Department and its administrative and financial sections to meet the challenges of a department ready to deliver services to our people. The Department will, as a matter of urgency start a process of developing an organisational structure aimed at giving effect to the strategic plan as well as the priorities that I have just alluded to. This will be done in a manner to enhance the speedy implementation of the election manifesto.

The Department as it stands now, has a serious shortage of senior personnel. This lack of requisite skills hampers innovation and the ability of the department to focus on its key role and this result in resources being wasted. The handing-over back to treasury an amount of R68 million, for example in the last financial year, is a simple example of such incapacity because the department's existing yellow fleet has aged so severely that they are not usable. The Department should have used this money to replace all these old and unusable machines.

We are intending to produce a more streamlined and focused department, paying attention on skills development and retention, and succession plans by providing bursaries to employees and/or students in the field of civil engineering, artisans, transport engineers etc. The delays to the payment of service providers especially the Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) should be put in the dustbin of history because such delays contradict our Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy.

We should always be guided and shaped by the principle of Batho Pele, we must do as the President said during the State of the Nation Address in the last session of the Second Democratic Parliament when he said "We must be impatient with those public servants who see themselves as pen-pushers and guardians of rubber stamps, thieves intent on self-enrichment, bureaucrats who think they have a right to ignore the vision of Batho Pele, who come to work as late as possible, work as little as possible and knock-off as early as possible". Any official who does that should know that they are undermining the developmental task of our democratic state and therefore they do not deserve to be public servants.

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, it gives me a great pleasure to present my Department's budget for 2004 / 2005 financial year which amount to R764, 129 million. This budget is further allocated to various programmes as follows:

1.Administration: R52, 366 million
2.Roads: R552, 696 million
3.Transport: R55, 310 million
4.Traffic Management: R103, 757 million

The successful implementation of this budget is highly dependent on the public service that is driven by a clear understanding of the developmental tasks of our democratic state.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the brief input that I have made, will allow us to take the Department one step forward. The integrated approach in planning which include the labour-intensive methods in the implementation and road construction will make a huge contribution in our endeavour to create a single and integrated economy that benefits all.

We shall appreciate additional thinking because if we are to achieve these objectives that we have set ourselves, we need all of us to think fast and not be scared to share our views. We need to get the people of Mpumalanga moving. As they get moving, we must provide them easy access to go to work, to schools and places of leisure in a safe, affordable and efficient manner.

Let me take this opportunity to thank all Senior Managers as well as the entire staff for what they have done to make sure that today we have something to present before this august House. I say to them this is the beginning of the long journey, lets all put our efforts to support this ambitious but necessary programme. Let us all fasten our seat belts and be ready for this journey. Let us all stand together and work as a collective guided by the principle that says my success is your success and vice versa.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Roads and Transport, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
29 June 2004

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