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Da te: 22/02/2007
Source: Department of Transport
Title: Radebe: International Non-Motorised and Intermediate Means of Transport Conference and Exhibition


Keynote address by the Minister of Transport, Mr Jeff Radebe, MP, at the official opening of the International Non-Motorised (INM) and Intermediate Means of Transport (IMT) Conference and Exhibition, at Gallagher Estate, Midrand

Director-General of the Department of Transport,
MECs of Transport, Roads and Public Works,
Members of the Transport Portfolio Committee in the National Assembly,
Members of the Select Committee on Public Services in the National Council of Provinces,
Mayors and councillors,
Distinguished guests and Speakers from abroad,
Delegates and non-motorised transport specialists and suppliers,
Officials from the three spheres of government,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Delegates,
Exhibitors:

It is my great pleasure to welcome each and every one of you as we gather here at the Department of Transport's International Non-Motorised transport and intermediate means of transport conference. I would like to extend a warm welcome especially to delegates and speakers from various parts of the world and hope you enjoy your stay in our beautiful South Africa.

Last year in March South Africa hosted Velo Mondial Cape Town 2006. Velo Mondial is the world's most comprehensive bicycle planning conference that takes place every six years. At the closure of this conference all 41 countries represented there by delegates signed a declaration. This declaration committed among other things, all countries including South Africa that all spheres of government, civil society organisations and the business sector community must work together to promote and implement safe and increased levels of use of NMT. That conference also resolved that all countries need to develop strategies and partnerships to promote the integration of NMT with other sectors such as health, public transport, environment and economic contribution.

Most importantly, that conference also resolved that we need to work towards transforming the current city settings that are predominantly designed in a manner that is biased in favour of private cars, leaving little and often no room to promote the co-existence between various modes of transportation such as walking, cycling and animal-drawn carts as well as other forms of NMT.

It is therefore against this background that the Department of Transport with its partners is hosting this conference here today to re-commit ourselves to share best practices and reflect on how far we've gone towards the realisation of our vision of mainstreaming NMT into the whole transport system. Therefore as we all know the objectives of this conference and exhibition are to:

* create awareness regarding non-motorised and intermediate means of transport as viable and effective low cost mobility solutions
* share South African and international experiences regarding non-motorised and intermediate means of transport
* showcase the latest non-motorised and intermediate means of transport technologies
* promote dialogue among all transport planners, policy makers, non-motorised and intermediate means of transport technology manufacturers, retailers and users
* build and improve relationships and sharing of expertise and best practices between local and international non-motorised transport role-players.

Distinguished delegates, NMT and Intermediate Means of Transport (IMT) play a key role in the provision of affordable, sustainable and environmentally friendly transportation systems in developing countries and developed countries around the world. Major cities in many parts of the world are increasingly prioritising NMT and IMT as alternative interventions to address congestion, over-reliance on fossil fuel and also to create an economically, environmentally sustainable and healthy environment in which all our citizens live.

In the context of South Africa, until recently, NMT and IMT have not been given much attention in the transportation system agenda and priorities.

However, the growing urbanisation that we see all around us, congestion and excessive demand for fossil fuel have dictated a need for us in the South African transport sector and policy makers to start looking seriously at developing, implementing and promoting NMT and IMT as viable alternative modes of transport. NMT and IMT play a key role to improve accessibility and mobility especially in the poorly serviced areas by integrating non-motorised transportation into socio-economic development activities that our country is involved in.

In order to succeed in making NMT and IMT an attractive and viable mode of transport, there are a number of interventions that are necessary for us to transform our mindsets and the priorities in the planning, design, operations, promotion and marketing of the transport system.

Ladies and gentlemen, in 2000, the Department of Transport established Shova Kalula (Pedal Easy) Bicycle programme as a pilot project in order to promote the use of bicycles as an alternative mode of transport especially for people in remote and resource-poor areas of South Africa. Based on the Shova Kalula pilot project and in line with many strategies of government such as the Rural Transport Strategy, the Urban Renewal Programme (URP) and the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP), the Department of Transport broadened Shova Kalula into a more comprehensive NMT and IMT programme that incorporates cycling, animal-drawn carts, NMT infrastructure, safety issues and the promotion of these initiatives. In order to guide the implementation of NMT the Department also developed a 10-year NMT rollout and marketing plan.

This plan will be tabled at this conference and discussed in one of the sessions of this conference.

Situational analysis

Delegates, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) recently highlighted the plight of developing communities as well as the significant potential for low cost mobility solutions.

They indicated that:

* eighty percent of South Africans depend on public transport
* about 50 percent of South African population lives in rural areas
* seventy-two percent of rural population are poor.

Taking into account the amount of financial investments required to improve the transportation system whilst there are competing priorities, there is no doubt that NMT has a significant role to play to improve access and mobility for people who do not currently have adequate access.

According to the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS, 2004) walking and cycling constitutes 23 percent of modal share. A significant finding of the survey is that 76 percent of the scholars, our children including students, walk to education resource centres and three million of them spend more than an hour walking to and from places of learning.

Non-Motorised Conference

In the context of these findings there is no doubt that NMT can play a key role to improve the current means of mobility for a large portion of our society. This challenge is much more pressing in the context of learners in rural and remote resource poor areas who walk long distances to get to and from school and often getting to school tired and unable to fully comprehend and concentrate on learning. This has an effect on their results and progress at school and in life. Furthermore, studies conducted indicate that where children walk long distances to get to and from school, they often start school at older age than normal in order to be able to cope with walking long distances. Studies also indicate that the level of school dropouts is often as a result of poor access and mobility to get to schools. These challenges call for drastic measures to promote NMT as an important component of the transportation system especially because it offers low cost means of mobility.

Shova Kalula Bicycle Project

The Shova Kalula Bicycle project is part of our NMT interventions that the Department is rolling out. The Shova Kalula project implementation is now in phase four and has a target of rolling out one million bicycles countrywide by 2015. This delivery target is in line with the resolution and action plan of the African Minister's Transport Summit held in Addis Ababa in 2005. The meeting agreed to a range of targets that we must meet by 2015 in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations (UN). These targets include amongst other things the need to provide safe, affordable and reliable transport to learners and school kids in rural and urban areas. In practical terms this includes the construction of dedicated bicycle pathways, safety education for bicycles as well as promotion and rollout of bicycles. Obviously partnerships with private sector and civil society are being developed to promote cycling and rollout of bicycles.

These delivery targets will go a long way to popularise cycling as a mode of transport in our society. While the Department of Transport takes the lead in providing funding to provinces for infrastructure and the rollout of bicycles, we are also appealing to provinces, municipalities and private sector to also make a contribution to this important programme. There is no doubt that the government alone cannot achieve its goal of NMT promotion and rollout. Therefore, strategic partnerships and co-operation agreements with all stakeholders must be entered into with organisations involved in promoting low cost mobility solutions.

Shova Kalula also incorporates the establishment of micro-businesses which sell, repair and maintain the bicycles to ensure the sustainability of the project. This creates employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for people in our communities.

The implementation of Shova Kalula has taught us many lessons especially on the availability of bicycles and spare parts. One of the most important lessons is that of the need for the production of bicycles locally to ensure project sustainability and contribute in employment creation.

Animal-drawn carts

Many deep rural parts of the country are still inaccessible by means of conventional transport system. As a result, communities have for many years relied on animal-drawn carts to access schools, clinics, pension pay points and all other social services as the only alternative means of transport to walking long distances. The Department in partnership with other role players will lead and facilitate the development and rollout of safe and appropriate animal-drawn carts while taking into account animal welfare issues.

Over the years there has been a growing realisation that animal-drawn carts in some deep rural parts of the country play a key role to create access and mobility for our rural communities. This has called for a need for innovation to ensure the availability and use of animal-drawn carts while ensuring animal welfare. In order to address these challenges the Department, the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) and other role players including the private sector have partnered to design and develop animal-drawn carts that are safe and appropriate for use in rural areas. This project has played a key role in promoting use of NMT in many parts of North West, Free State and Northern Cape provinces while at the same time addressing animal welfare issues.

These carts play a key role to enable scholars to get to school and communities to access areas of social amenities and make a livelihood.

The manufacturers of NMT carts, bicycles and other related technologies are critical to the achievement of the objective of the successful rollout of NMT. Our Department has already developed a database of various suppliers and this will be updated continuously. Suppliers and manufacturers will be engaged continuously to ensure that there is appropriate supply of NMT vehicles and parts thereof to ensure the sustainability of this programme.

NMT planning and infrastructure provision

Transport infrastructure audits on the transport plans prepared by most municipalities indicate a lack of existence of dedicated NMT and pedestrian infrastructure facilities and a bias of infrastructure towards private vehicles rather than people.

Critical to the successful implementation of NMT interventions are the municipalities. The Department will engage municipalities and support them to ensure that NMT becomes an essential element of Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and Integrated Transport Plans (ITPs) and that NMT gets funding and implementation in terms of the agenda of priorities. In order for the interventions aimed at promoting safe use of NMT, there is a need to transform planning and implementation of transport infrastructure in a manner that radically shifts in favour of NMT and its integration into the public transport system. This will play a key role to promote safe cycling, walking and people friendly environment.

Scooter bicycles and cabs, roller blades, electric bicycles and other forms of intermediate transport are presently gaining ground as a mode of transport in South Africa especially in the context of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. In partnership with the manufacturers, our Department will endeavour to create an enabling legislative framework within which IMT vehicles can be accommodated into the public transport system.

Safety interventions

Ladies and gentlemen, the promotion of road safety and education coupled with effective law enforcement has a long way to go to promote a culture of sharing of space and tolerance among road users. This can help create an environment conducive to promoting NMT and its integration into the transport system. One of the major barriers to the promotion of NMT is the high risk of crashes on our roads. According to the study of non-natural deaths conducted by the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) in 2005, in Tshwane alone there were 43 cyclists killed by vehicles on the roads. This has negative implications in the efforts to promote NMT and cycling in particular on our roads. There is a serious need for us to accelerate safety interventions that include construction on dedicated NMT facilities, safety education and effective law enforcement in order to win the battle to promote NMT.

NMT and its potential role in the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup

In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, global experiences in the previous Soccer World Cup tournaments indicate very clearly that NMT plays a key role to ensure effective utilisation of space and mobility of people in a manner that is environmentally friendly and affordable to plan and implement. The FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup to be hosted by South Africa creates a rare opportunity to accelerate the promotion of NMT strategies and its integration to the mainstream transport system. I have noted with excitement that this conference will also deliberate on strategies and the role of NMT with regard to this huge global event that we will be hosting in three years time.

Finally, as the convener of this INM and IMT conference and exhibition, I look forward to fruitful debates and discussions that must will translate into practical implementable solutions that political leaders, transport planners, policy makers, development specialists and environmental experts can go back to implement at various levels to mainstream NMT and IMT into the public transport system.

I thank you!

Issued by: Department of Transport
22 February 2007

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