South Africa's taxi recapitalisation programme, as well as additional resources for improved traffic law enforcement, will receive an additional R885-million over the next three years, the country's Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said in Parliament yesteday.

Delivering his 2005 National Budget speech, Manuel said the taxi recapitalisation programme would receive the additional funds as part of economic development initiatives for the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

In total, the Department of Transport has been allocated additional amounts of R477-million, R659-million and R1,3-billion over the MTEF period to initiate the taxi recapitalisation programme and to support public transport services and infrastructure.

In its review of the 2005 budget, the National Treasury commented that the success of the taxi recapitalisation project depends on improved law enforcement and robust administrative systems to manage the scrapping of taxis and payments to taxi owners.

The large additional allocation of R500-million in 2007/8 is for the upgrade of national roads, while the two outer year allocations include R100-million and R250-million for passenger rail safety.

In terms of government's black economic empowerment (BEE) drive, Manuel allocated R1,2-billion -R400-million a year within the MTEF - to the Department of Trade and Industry's National Empowerment Fund, for its work programme.

“The National Empowerment Fund receives further this year, and we are certain that it will make a growing contribution to broadening the reach of business empowerment and transformation,” Manuel said, adding that the Minister of Trade and Industry has taken the lead in developing both improved support for small and new businesses, and common codes guide the design of empowerment projects.

It is anticipated that more work will be done in the coming months on the kinds of products that will be financed through this allocation and, before expenditure can begin, the department, the National Empowerment Fund and the National Treasury will have to reach final agreement.

To date, the National Empowerment Fund has announced seven dedicated products to facilitate broad-based BEE.

Government's BEE strategy is based on four pillars - preferential procurement policies, charter processes in specific sectors, targeted awarding of licenses and concessions for regulated sectors and the restructuring of State enterprises.

Through the State's procurement framework, an increasing proportion of contracts are being awarded to businesses owned by women and other historically-disadvantaged groups. The Department of Trade and Industry is rationalising its support to small business to improve the effectiveness of its programmes.