https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / Speeches RSS ← Back
Business|Construction|Design|Engineering|Financial|Freight|Logistics|Manufacturing|PROJECT|Projects|rail|Road|Roads|Safety|Service|Services|Surface|System|Systems|Technology|Tourism|transport|Maintenance|Manufacturing |Infrastructure
Business|Construction|Design|Engineering|Financial|Freight|Logistics|Manufacturing|PROJECT|Projects|rail|Road|Roads|Safety|Service|Services|Surface|System|Systems|Technology|Tourism|transport|Maintenance|Manufacturing |Infrastructure
business|construction|design|engineering|financial|freight|logistics|manufacturing|project|projects|rail|road|roads|safety|service|services|surface|system|systems|technology|tourism|transport|maintenance|manufacturing-industry-term|infrastructure
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

DoT: Blade Nzimande, Address by The Minister of Transport, on Sanral Stimulus Package Projects Held, GCIS, Pretoria (26/02/2019)

Close

Embed Video

DoT: Blade Nzimande, Address by The Minister of Transport, on Sanral Stimulus Package Projects Held, GCIS, Pretoria (26/02/2019)

Transport Minister Blade Nzimande
Photo by Creamer Media
Transport Minister Blade Nzimande

26th February 2019

ARTICLE ENQUIRY      SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

Deputy Minister, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga;
SANRAL Board Members, led by the Chairperson, Mr Themba Mhambi
Acting Director General, Mr Chris Hlabisa
SANRAL CEO, Mr Skhumbuzo Macozoma
DDG’s present
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
 
I greet you
 
In the State of the Nation Address in February last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a range of measures that government will initiate to set the country on a new path of growth, employment and transformation.
 
Since then, government took decisive steps to rebuild investor confidence, end corruption and state capture, restore good governance at state owned enterprises and strengthen critical public institutions.
 
The President affirmed that it is evident from the contraction of our economy that our economic difficulties are severe and that it will take an extraordinary effort – and some time – to overcome.
 
Amongst other challenges is the fact that for several years our economy has not grown at the pace needed to create enough jobs or lift our people out of poverty.
 
Public finances have been constrained, limiting the ability of government to expand its investment in economic and social development.
 
These contradictions, led to Cabinet adopting an economic stimulus and recovery plan.
 
The stimulus and recovery plan consists of a range of measures, both financial and non-financial, that will be implemented immediately to firstly ignite economic activity, secondly restore investor confidence, thirdly prevent further job losses and create new jobs, and fourthly to address some urgent challenges that affect the conditions faced by vulnerable groups among our people.
 
These measures will ensure that government gives priority to the areas of economic activity that will have the greatest impact on youth, women and small businesses.
 
As the Department, we are therefore expected to decisively and rapidly accelerate the implementation of key economic reforms that will unlock greater investment in our sector.
 
Other measures we are immediately expected to implement as the Department of Transport include expanding procurement from small business and cooperatives, with a particular emphasis on township and rural economies, women and youth.
 
Ladies and gentlemen
 
Our national road network, which is managed by the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL), is the backbone of our land transportation system.
 
Without a well-designed and well-maintained primary road network, we will not be able to attract investments that can serve as catalysts for balanced economic growth, instill business confidence, create jobs and contribute to the fundamental transformation of our society.
 
Our objective today is to inform you about the stimulus projects that are in place on the SANRAL network - our national roads agency - and to give you an update on some of them that are “shovel ready”, where we are able to move from the design to the construction phases.
 
The National Development Plan, quite accurately, describes our road network as the country’s largest single public asset.
 
It is, thus, of the utmost importance that this road network is well-designed, well-managed, and well-maintained.
 
With regards to SANRAL you will note that we have responded pro-actively to the President’s call to have “shovel-ready projects” in place that are already in various stages of implementation.
 
Many of these will reach completion within the next 12 to 24 months and their economic impact reaches communities in all nine provinces, and beyond into the Southern African region.
 
Ladies and gentlemen
 
In the past financial year SANRAL completed road infrastructure and maintenance projects to the value of R521-million in the Eastern Cape and upgraded or maintained more than 4 963 kilometres of roads.
 
Communities across the province – from Ntlaza to Queenstown and from Matatiele to the Baviaans River – now have access to safer and more convenient infrastructure, access roads and pedestrian walkways because of the construction activities initiated by SANRAL.
 
Through these developments we also complement the ongoing growth initiatives launched by the Eastern Cape provincial government including the imminent development of the Wild Coast special economic zone in Mthatha; the construction of a new international hotel; small manufacturing and agri-processing facilities, a logistics hub and the extension of the Mthatha Airport.
 
It must be noted that none of these developments would have been feasible without access to the primary road network provided by SANRAL.
 
During the 2018 October Transport Month, we opened the Mount Edgecombe interchange near Umhlanga on the N2.
 
From an engineering and construction perspective this was a major achievement including the longest bridge ever built in South Africa using the incrementally launched method of construction.
 
This project was a prime example of how we are moving South Africa forward, together.
 
Some four months after the opening the benefits are already showing in a reduction of congestion, improved access for communities to the north of Durban and in the inland such as Verulam, Tongaat and kwaGingindlovu and the unlocking of economic activities around the King Shaka International Airport and the Dube Cargo Terminal.
 
The upgrading of the Moloto Road – the R573 – is a priority project for government given the enormous concerns about safety on a road that carries about 50 000 commuters every working day.
 
This road runs through three provinces – linking both Mpumalanga and Limpopo with Gauteng.
 
The current improved infrastructure is a vital catalyst for commerce, trade, economic growth and job creation in this region.
 
This development forms part of the broader vision to establish the Moloto Development Corridor as a transit-oriented project where the road will be linked to commuter rail, leading to the more efficient movement of freight.
 
The importance of the Moloto Road was again underlined in last week’s Budget in which the Minister of Finance allocated R3.3-billion for its future upgrade.
 
In the next financial year and in response to the call by President Ramaphosa that departments must implement far-reaching measures that will nearly double the number of jobs being created in our economy each year, as the Department of Transport we will be implementing the following projects:
 
In the Eastern Cape work to upgrade the N2 Wild Coast Road from East London to Port Edward is well underway. This is a pivotal initiative that can unlock economic opportunities in some of the most impoverished districts in the country.
 
The Eastern Cape is a prime example of how apartheid spatial planning negatively impacted on rural communities and how the lack of quality roads prevented communities from participating in mainstream economic activities in the fields of trade, tourism and agriculture.
 
Examples abound of how people have to traverse difficult terrain at great cost and time to visit a neighbouring village, access retail shops or receive treatment at a clinic.
 
For the Eastern Cape, it will unlock opportunities in the fields of eco-tourism, agri-processing and commerce through improved access to the broader transport network.
 
Within the wider regional context, the N2 Wild Coast Road will save three hours of travel time between Durban and East London, improve logistical linkages and facilitate the easier – and safer – movement of people, goods and services.
 
I want to highlight three shovel-ready stimulus projects on the N2 Wild Coast Road that we are implementing:
 
From Lingeni to the Msikaba Bridge we are constructing a 16.3km new single carriageway and four lane undivided road with two interchanges. It has a value of R976-million and will create more than 480 jobs.
 
A 17.7km new single carriageway road is being built between the Msikaba and Mtentu Bridges. It includes one bridge and two interchanges at an envisaged value of R1.1-billion. Some 550 jobs will be created.
 
We are also allocating R853-million to an 11.5km stretch of road, with two bridges and two interchanges from Kulumbe to the Umtamvuna River.
 
On all these projects – with a combined envisaged value of almost R3-billion, we will spend more than R930-million on small and medium enterprises and emerging contractors, many of them women and the youth.
 
This, again, demonstrates how our investment in infrastructure has a cascading impact into job creation, skills development and the growth of the SMME sector.
 
In KwaZulu-Natal, the planning of upgrades to the N3 between Durban and Pietermaritzburg is at an advanced stage and we envisage that construction will commence in mid-2020.
 
The first phase will include upgrades to the road between Cato Ridge and Pietermaritzburg, key ridge alignments and improvements to the EB Cloete interchange to a value of R13-billion.
 
This is a primary economic artery for our country and the entire Southern African region because of the volume and the value of goods moved by road between the Durban port and Gauteng.
 
In addition, it carries increasing numbers of passenger traffic – especially during peak holiday periods and during the festive seasons.
 
These projects are crucial for the success of the National Development Plan Strategic Infrastructure Project – SIP 2 – designed to unlock the capacity on the country’s most important freight corridor.
 
As indicated earlier the stimulus projects will touch lives of communities across all nine provinces because of the impact of quality road infrastructure on mobility, service delivery and access to economic opportunities.
 
There are also a number of stimulus projects that are shovel-ready, which will be implemented, they included the following:
 
In Mpumalanga, in the Thembisile Hani Local Municipality, we will be constructing the Tweefontein and Kwaggafontein access roads. These roads have a combined budget of more than R200-million and will create some 600 job opportunities.
 
We have also allocated R23-million to the Moloto Drainage improvements with a similar amount envisaged for the upgrading of roads from gravel to surface in KwaMhlanga.
 
In addition to these major capital expenditure programmes SANRAL also has smaller community projects in the pipeline such as the upgrading of gravel roads near Mbizana in the Eastern Cape; road safety improvements in the Msunduzi local municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.
 
We will also upgrade gravel roads in the uMngeni and Nquthu local municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal; the new Dr Moroka level crossing bridge in Rustenburg in the North West; the upgrading of the road from Tshikanoshi to Malebitsa in Limpopo and critical road upgrades in the Mbizana local municipality in the Eastern Cape.
 
The 3.5 billion budget on the stimulus package will unlock the R13.1-billion investment in critical and strategic road infrastructure.
 
All new SANRAL projects include the introduction of new methods of construction and new technology that will improve the safety and comfort of commuters.
 
South Africa fully subscribes to the global objectives of the Decade of Action for Road Safety which calls for a safe systems approach to reduce the unacceptably high rate of fatal and serious crashes on our roads.
 
There are at least seven shovel-ready projects on this development which is crucial to the success of our Strategic Infrastructure Project – SIP 2 – designed to unlock the capacity on the country’s most important freight corridor.
 
I want to highlight three of these projects:
 
The E B Cloete Interchange in eThekwini is the critical link between the N2 and the N3 and locals know it as the “spaghetti junction.” This will be upgraded at a cost of more than R1.5-billion, creating more than 4 000 jobs during the construction period.
 
In the uMgungundlovu District Municipality, we are adding additional lanes between Cato Ridge and Camperdown. It has a forecasted budget of more than R1.5-billion and create an additional 4 000 jobs.
 
The stretch between Camperdown and Lynnfield Park falls within the jurisdiction of the Mkhambathini Local Municipality. The project entails the adding of additional lanes at a budget of R1.2-billion and the potential to create 3 100 jobs.
 
Ladies and gentlemen
 
We have set aside about R3billion to upgrade the Limpopo and Mpumalanga sections of the Moloto Road. An estimated twelve thousand five hundred (12500) jobs will be created over the five year period of the project.
 
The upgrading of the R573 Moloto Road is one of the major projects initiated by government to develop road infrastructure and revive the country’s economy.
 
The first phase of the project, which included the construction of temporary bypasses and upgrading the main carriageway between Siyabuswa and Marble Hall in Limpopo, is nearly complete.
 
There was also upgrading of four priority intersections in Mpumalanga: three converted to traffic circles and one to a butterfly intersection. With the project planned for completion over the next four to six years, there are still more phases that will require labour, translating into more job opportunities for the community.
 
Three more construction work packages for Limpopo and five more for Mpumalanga will be rolled out in this current financial year.
 
In addition, there will be three community development projects in Limpopo and another five in Mpumalanga, which include upgrading of access roads, among other identified activities. These also target SMMEs with CIDB grades 1 and 2 that are seeking opportunities to learn and attain formal SAQA (South African Qualifications Authority) accredited level 3 and 4 qualifications.
 
I have also noted with concern the loss of life that continued to occur on the N1 particularly on the stretch of the road between Kranskop and Polokwane.
 
I promised that to get to the bottom of this, SANRAL appointed a team of independent investigators to investigate the cause of these horrific crashes.
 
The investigations revealed that the current road infrastructure is not the main cause of these crashes.
 
However, we are making interventions to improve both infrastructure and driver behavior.
 
As an immediate intervention SANRAL re-marked the roads to improve visibility and also clearing the road reserves to provide for a safer road shoulder.
 
In December 2018, SANRAL installed Average Speed Over Distance (ASOD) cameras between Kranskop to Nyl Plaza and Nyl Plaza to Polokwane – to reduce speed.  Please see graph below on impact it had in reducing speed.  Through this intervention we have recorded a significant drop in speed from 12.5% exceeding 130 km/h it dropped to 5% for the northbound, and form 25% exceeding 130 km/h dropped to 15% for the southbound.  It is anticipated that this will reduce when roadside enforcement linked to ASDO technology is initiated.
 
SANRAL has also installed candle sticks on the centre line at 48m spacing – to prevent driving in opposite direction lanes.
 
Due to traffic volumes increasing to (± 19000) in this road, a new carriageway must be constructed, but since part of SANRAL Toll portfolio estimated cost of R4.2 billion, SANRAL is currently in discussions with New Development Bank with regard to funding for the construction. However, consultants have been appointed to complete the detail designs.
 
As government, we are confident that the economic stimulus and recovery package will play a decisive role in reversing the current contraction in the South African economy.
 
Our road infrastructure will certainly ensure that we ignite economic growth, restore investor confidence, create new jobs and provide the vital infrastructure to sustain our economy for decades.
 
I thank you
 

Advertisement

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE ARTICLE ENQUIRY

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now