Monday August 12, 2002
The National Minister of Transport, Dullah Omar will deliver a speech at the Fifth Annual Africa Rail Conference on Monday, 12 August 2002 at Gallagher Estate in Midrand - South Africa. The Minister will address the conference on the "Integration of the African Railway Systems, which will form an internationally competitive network".
The Minister said in his opening address that it was important to note where the rail sector came from and where it was heading. He said with the founding of the Southern African Railways Association (SARA) in 1996, a platform was established for greater coordination and collaboration between rail operators in the area in their endeavour to provide a framework for the joint delivery of a cost-effective, regionally integrated, seamless and predictable rail transport service and ensure the existence of a sustainable fair surface transport policy in the SADC region.
He reminded delegates that three standing working committees were established to facilitate the execution SARA's functions namely: a Regional Business Strategy and Technical Committee (RBSTC), a Rail Intermodal Competition Committee (RICC) and, a human resource development committee.
Under SARA's initiative 10 international rail corridors have been identified and management groups appointed to develop corridor operating plans and monitor and evaluate the performance of each on a continuous basis.
He said Spoornet, a division of Transnet, represents South Africa in the railway sub sector. A fair proportion of Spoornet's revenue is generated by freight moving to and from SADC member countries. Areas identified for future regional cooperation include measures to prevent duplication and oversupply of rail routes. This would lead to integration of rail lines across the region so that the freight and passenger customer would experience a seamless service.
"SADC is not the only body in the region with the goal of integrating amongst other things, transport. There are several other institutions with similar aims and objectives. The organisations are: Southern African Customs Union (SACU), dealing mainly with trade issues, but having an impact on transport; Common market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the successor to the Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern African States (PTA), with objectives similar to SADC; Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), which focuses on regional cooperation between countries in the Indian ocean. Evidently transport integration will focus on maritime transport", Omar assured delegates.
It is evident that the creation of institutions to facilitate the integration process has progressed quite satisfactorily in this sub-region. One of the products of all these efforts has been the signing of the SADC protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology. The general objective of this protocol is to establish Transport, Communications and Meteorology systems which provide efficient, cost-effective and fully integrated infrastructure and operations which best meets the needs of customers and promotes economic and social development while being environmentally and economically sustainable.
"It is therefore important that the railway owners and operators of the region should collaborate and cooperate in their efforts to promote the rail mode as a contributor to the development of the region", said the Minister.
The United States government has quantified the cumulative benefits to be derived from integrating transport and has accepted the responsibility to promote inter-modalism. The wheels were set rolling with the adoption of the first inter-modal Surface Transport Efficiency act (ISTEA) in 1991. Under this act government will financially support the planning and provision of inter-modal transfer facilities for freight at strategic points.