ANNUAL TRANSPORT REPORT 1997/98

Issued by: Government Communications (GCIS)

10 June 1998

Minister of Transport Mac Maharaj is pleased to announce the release of his Department's Annual Report for 1997/98. The Department is also releasing (under separate cover) the audited Financial Statements of the DoT and the South African Roads Board for the previous financial year, 1996/97. Both documents are being tabled in Parliament today. They are available from the DoT Parliamentary Office and will shortly be published on our web-site: http://www.transport.gov.za

The year under review was an eventful and momentous one. It was the year in which the groundwork for the fundamental restructuring of the DoT was put in place. This has allowed us to enter 1998/99 fully focussed on our core businesses of policy development, strategic planning, regulation and the facilitation of delivery at the appropriate level of decentralisation.

Highlights of the Report are:

• The formation of business-driven arm's length agencies for roads (South African National Roads Agency), shipping (South African Maritime Safety Agency) and cross-border transport (Cross-Border Road Transport Authority);
• The partial privatisation of the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) through the acquirement of Aeroporti di Roma as a strategic equity partner and the start of the process of bringing black empowerment equity partners on board, which will bring to government more than R1,2 billion;
• The continued advance of regional corridor projects (Maputo, Lubombo, Platium Corridors) and metropolitan SDIs, with private sector investments running into many billions of Rands and 35 000 new jobs projected for the Maputo Corridor alone;
• The Arrive Alive road safety campaign and an intensive planning initiative aimed at a total overhaul of the legislative and organisational framework of traffic management in South Africa;
• The launch of the Department's long-term strategic planning process, Moving South Africa, which aims to translate the policy goals of the White Paper into hard, clear developmental options for both public transport and private sector initiative, and will be reporting its findings in September this year.

Much more can be found within. We hope the document proves useful to all our readers.