Sustainable Transport: 2010 and Beyond
Tuesday, 22 June 2010 |   |  0 comment

"The days of transport and roads infrastructure which gives priority to private vehicles in Cape Town are numbered". This was one of the key messages from Marius Fransman, MEC for Transport and Public Works in the Western Cape, at a business breakfast in Cape Town hosted by the National Business Initiative (NBI) and sponsored by ENGEN.

The MEC reiterated that the focus will move from private to public transportation. Currently the private road usage split is 31% public and 69% private. The Province is seeking to address this imbalance by giving priority to public and non-motorised transport and 2010 is the target for this 'modal' split of 50:50.

How will this be achieved? A substantial upgrading of public transport to make it affordable, safe, reliable and accessible as well as budgetary allocations being redirected towards public transport and away from the construction of new roads (except where critical). Airports Company South Africa is rolling an investment of R1.5 billion for the airport upgrade and expansion; Metrorail is investing R1.2 billion in new refurbished coaches and train sets, the South African National Roads Agency Limited is investing R1.2 billion in road infrastructure and South African Ports Operations are investing R2.4 billion in port upgrades and expansion. The Western Cape will invest about R7 billion in building road maintenance and infrastructure from 2007 to 2010. In the 2007/8 period through the World Cup 2010 division, R1.4 billion will be invested in critical infrastructure, the roads division will invest R1.2 billion in improving road infrastructure and R202 million will be spent on rolling out the Public Transport Improvement Plan.

MEC Fransman urged the audience to remember that "the skills shortage is ongoing and undermines the capacity of government and industry. It is now almost universally recognised that it is a critical factor in the construction industry." He further noted that "last year only 10% of the demand for civil engineers was met and within current supply constraints, matters will not improve much by 2010."

The MEC informed the audience of steps that have been put in place by his department to redress these issues, one of which being Masakh' iSizwe (Let's Build the Nation). Central to this initiative is a bursary programme for students in the engineering and construction environment fields. In 2006, 127 students were on bursary and currently there are 300 on full bursary with a graduation rate of 80% thus far. Another initiative the department has taken is a Centre for Public Transport at the University of Cape Town to address the provision of high level planners and professionals.

Feeding into the skills issue is the question of employment equity and its consequences which "government has been reluctant to acknowledge" conceded MEC Fransman. He reiterated that government needs to "educate and train more people and employ all those qualified to ensure professional leadership and management of our public services."

Glen Fisher, NBI's Strategy Director responded to the MEC by noting that from a sustainability perspective it was critical to know where we were going and how to get there. He stated that the NBI's purpose is to build relationships and trust with government, business and key stakeholders. It was clear that, in the context of climate change and resource scarcity, uncontrolled growth of private transport was untenable and that it could not be business as usual. The MEC had proposed a bold new vision for the sustainable development of the region, which had major implications over the longer term for all of its residents and their quality of life. He suggested that social dialogue to bring together all role-players to consider these issues would be very important going forward, as would active partnerships and cooperation to address the skills constraints and other challenges which were holding back sustainable development in the region. He believed that this business breakfast with the MEC was a positive step to
wards that goal and expressed the hope that this dialogue would be taken forward with energy and vision.