Transport Minister Dullah Omar will be focusing on solving the freight problems affecting exports in SA as part of his plan for an improved road system.
Transport minister Dullah Omar will be focusing on solving the freight problems affecting exports in SA as part of his plan for an improved road system.
Omar said there had been an increase from rail to road transport and the roads needed to be upgraded and maintained. This would cost R30 million.
According to , he will form an inter-departmental task team with the public enterprises division to ease the bottlenecks on roads, rail and at the ports.
“We can no longer allow this issue to continue unattended … and it is a matter of deep concern to me,” Public Enterprises Minister Jeff Radebe said. “We will take all practical measures to try and resolve these obstacles.”
On Friday Omar announced that his plan to upgrade South Africa’s roads within the next five years had been approved in principle by Cabinet. Final approval of the programme depended on whether funds would be available.
The minister said that about R3 billion had been allocated for improving rural roads. This would upgrade between 7 500 km and 15 000 km of roads.
R7 billion would be spent on routine road maintenance, R10 billion on resealing of roads, R4 billion on rehabilitation and R6 billion for overheads. This would complement the funds derived from existing toll roads.
“Our strategic goal is to protect and maintain the current network. This should be supported by a focus on greater enforcement of overloading control, promoting a balance of road to rail usage, and increased funding for maintenance, etc,” said Omar.
“We are committed to reducing infrastructure investment backlogs across major sectors from passenger to freight transport.
“The national treasury has allocated more than R130 million for infrastructure provision and maintenance. We would like to see a large portion of that go into upgrading key transport sectors such as rail and roads.
“By the end of this year we expect to have researched sufficiently to produce a road development plan that will identify constraints in the delivery of roads and would propose more effective road delivery mechanisms,” he said.
