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ADDRESS BY KWAZULU-NATAL TRANSPORT MEC, MR S'BU NDEBELE, TO THE KWAZULU-NATAL LEGISLATURE ON THE ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE INITIATIVES OF THE KWAZULU-NATAL DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT23 October 2001
Ever since I became MEC of Transport for KwaZulu-Natal, I have campaigned in the Legislature for a budget that would allow my Department to address the infrastructure development, upgrading, maintenance and rehabilitation needs of the provincial road network. Every year I have reported on backlogs in the road network to the Legislature and I believe that, every year, I have been able to present a more comprehensive picture of the network condition in KwaZulu-Natal. It is therefore pleasing to read in the 2001 Intergovernmental Fiscal Review that "of the more rural provinces, KwaZulu-Natal showed consistent growth in spending (on road infrastructure) between 1997/1998 and 2000/2001". The National Treasury then views the growth in spending on road infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal as a positive development. This is understandable given the fact that road and transport infrastructure are considered a necessary condition to promote and sustain economic growth and development. So much so, that it is now calculated that logistics, i.e. the management of supply chains, account for approximately 45% of the final costs in production. This is in sharp contrast to the 15% now attributed to direct labour costs in producing a product. Gone then are the days when low wages were a sufficient condition to create a competitive edge on global markets. Today I will report on the progress made in KwaZulu-Natal in addressing road infrastructure backlogs. In my first years as MEC for Transport, I promoted what has become known as the Community Access Roads Needs Study (CARNS). The CARNS report was specifically designed to scientifically verify the backlog in providing rural communities with access. The study focused on the need for local roads and made no attempt to comment on the condition of higher order roads such as district and main roads. I made an initial focus on local roads because, having been brought up in rural communities, I knew only to well the hardships that rural people had to endure in getting access to roads that carried public transport and roads that accommodated public services. The focus on local roads did not imply that the rest of the road network was adequate and in a satisfactory condition. Common sense as well as the everyday experience of rural road users supported the view that we, as a province, had inherited a road network that can only be described as being in a critical condition. Our CARNS report was published in 1997. Not only did the CARNS report verify a backlog of more than 11 000 kilometres in access roads, it also established a priority order for building roads based on cross tabulations between perceived priority needs, Human Development Index and economic development potential. In other words, we were able to identify on a project-by-project basis how the upgrading of local roads would impact on communities. Here I would like to re-emphasise that access/local roads have a considerable impact on the social, cultural and economic life of resource poor communities. Not only do they provide access to markets, services, employment, enterprise development, transport and communications, they improve personal mobility, crises management, world view and quality of life. The CARNS report was used to build awareness concerning the critical role that roads play in the lives of rural communities. In this way we were able to leverage higher order budgets on an annual basis (except in 1998/1999 when budgets were cut to make up for over-expenditure of the provincial budget). The increased budgets allocated towards local roads allowed us to launch our Roads for Rural Development trategy and programme. Critical components of the Roads for Rural Development strategy include the enhancement of public participation in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport's programmes, the establishment of Rural Road Transport Forums and the development of appropriate training programmes to build their capacity to engage the Department in an informed and orderly way and the development of innovative enterprise development initiatives such as Vukuzakhe - our Staged Advancement Emerging Contractor programme - and job creation/poverty relief initiatives such as Zibambele. Over the past several years the Roads for Rural Development programmes have performed exceptionally well. Not only have they addressed community access needs, they have in the process created unparalleled entrepreneurial and job opportunities in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Last year (2000/2001 budget) alone the programme provided:
These statistics - with the exception of Zibambele contracts - were independently compiled by the CSIR. It is particularly pleasing for me to report on the progress made in our Vukuzakhe and Zibambele programmes. Vukuzakhe is our Staged Advancement Emerging Contractor programme. There are four stages within the programme which accommodate maximum contract values of R200 000 in Stage 1 to R1.5 million in Stage 4. As contractors move from one stage to another they are required to absorb higher orders of risk and to demonstrate wider management skills over labour and plant. The Department ensures the authenticity of emerging contractor companies by keeping a database that is regularly screened to avoid fronting. In 2000/2001, the Department awarded more than 900 contract opportunities, to Vukuzakhe contractors, with an audited value of R134 million. We have now assisted the Vukuzakhe contractors to form associations which, we believe, will streamline training and communications and will undoubtedly further enhance the performance of Vukuzakhe contractors. I can tell you now that the performance of our Vukuzakhe contractors is something to be proud of. On 9 October 2001, I had the pleasure of officially opening the Mkhaya River Bridge at Okhozi, Pongola. The Mkhaya River Bridge provides a critical link for commercial cane farmers to transport their crop to market. The Mkhaya River Bridge had been washed away earlier this year and was rebuilt by one of our Stage 4 Vukuzakhe contractors, namely Mahambayedwa Civils and Earthworks CC. Several Members of Parliament, who were present at the opening ceremony, can testify to the quality of work done and the extent to which the Mkhaya River Bridge has changed local attitudes among White farmers towards emerging contractors. Our Zibambele programme has also experienced phenomenal growth. Although the programme was only launched in January 2000, this financial year we expect to award 10 000 Zibambele contracts and, in terms of our Medium Term Expenditure Framework, have budgeted for 14 000 contracts next year. The programme contracts a household to perform routine maintenance activities on an approximately one-kilometre length of rural road. Potential Zibambele contractors are identified by community members and contracts are only awarded to the most destitute rural families. In rural KwaZulu-Natal, we experience a high incidence of women headed households which are, for the most part, extremely poor. The high percentage of women headed households is directly attributable to apartheid's labour migration system and to the decades of civil conflict that has widowed thousands upon thousands of women and left them destitute. We have now extended the Zibambele contract system to include adult children because so many rural households are now headed by children who have been orphaned because of HIV/AIDS. It is important to stress that Zibambele is more than a poverty relief programme. It is a cost efficient and cost effective method of maintaining our rural road network. This is the finding of independent research conducted under the supervision of Professor Francis Wilson of the University of Cape Town. It is little wonder then that Zibambele was judged by Impumelelo as the top programme in South Africa which focuses on the reduction of poverty and the improvement in the quality of life of the poor. It should be clear to everyone that a priority concern of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, since 1994, has been to address maintenance and upgrading backlogs and, in the process, to create opportunities for enterprise development and employment. This intention has been documented as the Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative. In the first instance, my Department documented how a programme to address the road infrastructure needs of KwaZulu-Natal would place our rural economy on a labour absorptive growth path. The Road to Wealth and Job Creation study of KwaZulu-Natal calculated that more than 8 500 contract opportunities and some 90 000 jobs could be created on an annual basis through a systematic programme designed to develop and maintain a balanced road network for our province. This initiative captured the interest of senior South African politicians. Indeed, our President (then Deputy President), Mr Thabo Mbeki, requested that a copy of the Road to Wealth and Job Creation be delivered to his home so that he could personally study the document. Thereafter, my Department was requested to co-ordinate a national Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative on behalf of provincial MECs of Transport and Public Works. This was presented by the then Honourable MEC of Public Works, Mr Jeff Radebe, to the Job Summit in October 1998. I also presented, at the Job Summit, The Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative: Implementation Strategy to Create Jobs and SMME Opportunities in Rural KwaZulu-Natal through the Provision of Road and Bridge Infrastructure. This document linked priority road investments to community needs and potential cluster developments spearheaded by agriculture and tourism. The Road to Wealth and Job Creation Initiative now forms the backbone of our National Integrated Rural Development Strategy. This strategy commits Government to a multi year programme to achieve integrated rural development and address rural poverty. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has now completed a Roads Needs Assessment of all main district and local roads in the province as part of the Department's Road To Wealth and Job Creation Initiative. The study identified an amalgamated road network of which:
The adoption of Medium Term Economic Frameworks has allowed us to adopt a programmed approach to address all road infrastructure backlogs in a systematic way. This year, in my Budget Speech, I launched our African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme. The programme is directed towards blacktopping major rural transport corridor roads that accommodate high levels of traffic. The upgrading of these transport corridor roads, which serve hundred of thousands of rural dwellers, will make a significant contribution towards the development of a more normal rural transport economy. It is calculated that it is cost-efficient to upgrade gravel roads to blacktop if they carry more than 300 vehicles per day. All the African Renaissance Roads that have been identified are among the most heavily trafficked transport corridors in KwaZulu-Natal. Their upgrading will significantly reduce vehicle-operating costs. We calculate that approximately 20 million kilometres are travelled on KwaZulu-Natal's rural road network every day at an estimated road user cost of R8.22 billion per annum. The poor condition of parts of the rural road network - especially transport corridors - results in unacceptably high vehicle operating costs amounting to R1.48 billion above the norm per annum. This reflects a cost to the rural economy that is largely borne by poor people. The African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme will result in massive savings in rural transport. It is our intention to ensure that the bulk of these savings are passed on to rural consumers. Further, the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme has focussed on those transport corridors that serve rural communities which have a high agricultural and tourism potential which has not yet been realised. The roads targeted to initiate the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme will provide all-weather road access to locations that are of significant relevance to the history of our Zulu Kingdom. As such, these roads will undoubtedly contribute towards nation building. I will now report on the progress made on the projects of the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme. The first project launched under the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme was Main Road 235. Main Road 235 is the road linking Mtubatuba to Nongoma through Hlabisa. That it is a well-trafficked road is evident from the fact that it was first prioritised for upgrading from gravel to blacktop in 1958.I repeat 1958. In other words, Main Road 235 was identified as accommodating very high traffic volumes 43 years ago. Yet, in that 43 years it has not been part of any department's work plan. This, I think, tells you something about the magnitude of backlogs that we face in KwaZulu-Natal. A Project Liaison Committee consisting of the following stakeholders has been formed and is functioning well. Stakeholders:
The establishment of Project Liaison Committees on all African Renaissance Road Upgrading projects is to ensure that beneficiary communities benefit not only during the construction of the road but also from the construction of the road. The Project Liaison Committee is in the process of conducting a scoping exercise to identify local economic development potential that will enhance the beneficiary community's response and capacity for self directed and sustained growth. In this way, it is anticipated that the upgrading of Main Road 235 - as with other African Renaissance Road projects - will contribute to reducing social and economic imbalances in KwaZulu-Natal by broadening the economic base, particularly for prospective farmers, tourism related industry, transport, construction, small industries and trade. Engineering consultants have been appointed to oversee design and quality control. A condition of their appointment is that they enter joint venture agreements with newly established firms. This is to ensure that the growth and development of the consulting engineering profession in South Africa becomes more reflective of our demographic profile. An exciting development in this regard is that several newly established consulting firms, in which the majority shareholding is Black, are among the consultants contracted to lead the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme. Contractors have been appointed to construct Main Road 235. I am pleased to inform you that some 70% of the value of road works will go to Vukuzakhe contractors. I think it is a measure of the success of the Vukuzakhe Staged Advancement Emerging Contractor Programme that Level 4 contractors will now play such a pivotal role in such a large project. Further, perhaps for the first time in KwaZulu-Natal, all work that does not fall within the critical path of the road construction programme has been removed from main contracts and is reserved for local labour intensive contracts. This will create considerable local employment opportunities which will result in a significant cash injection into local business. Materials and supplies needed in the road construction are tabled with the Project Liaison Committee and local business is afforded the opportunity to tender. The need to develop a road beautification programme, in the interests of attracting tourists and encouraging motorists to travel safely, has been tabled with the Project Liaison Committee. As reported in my Budget Speech it is our intention to contract the Zibambele households to maintain road beautification sites. I am pleased to announce that we have also turned the sod of a R60 million road-upgrading programme through Inkosi Mpiyezintombi Mzimela's area. This is an area steeped in history and of breathtaking natural beauty. I often refer to this project as The Road to our Self Discovery. I am, of course, referring to kwaBulawayo.
In building this road, we are recreating ourselves as a Nation. The upgrading of this link road will also create improved network access through Ongoye Forest and provide direct access to the important urban industrial growth centres of Eshowe and Empangeni. This, in itself, will boost local economic performance by increasing economic efficiency, by the dramatic lowering of transport costs and overheads and by improving access to markets for agricultural products and opportunities for eco and cultural tourism. We have, with Inkosi Mzimela's assistance, now established a Project Liaison Committee and civil engineering consultants have been appointed to survey and design the road to an appropriate standard. The appointment of civil engineering consultants to survey and design all other African Renaissance Road Upgrading Projects, as identified in my budget speech, will be finalised this week. I am confident that the systems and methodologies that we have developed for upgrading Main Road 235 will be implemented on all other African Renaissance Roads and that construction work will begin in the near future. The African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme is an important programme because the focus is on corridor roads which will undoubtedly unlock a vast rural development potential and attract new investments. This programme will also undoubtedly contribute to the furthering of co-operation between spheres of government in KwaZulu-Natal. The African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme will go a long way towards normalising the road construction industry in our province as it brings together all the social and economic empowerment programmes, within the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, under one umbrella project. Finally, I want to congratulate my Department's leadership and staff for their support in developing project based budgeting systems and performance based management. Today the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is a cost efficient service provider. Over the past several years, we have systematically reduced our establishment posts. So much so that the proportion of the Transport Budget spent on personnel in the 2000/2001 financial year was 30.2%. In terms of our Medium Term Economic Framework, the proportion of the Transport Budget spent on personnel is set to drop to 24.9% by 2004/2005. Our commitment to cost efficient service delivery has allowed the Department to significantly increase the proportion of our budget that is spent on actual services to the public. This has allowed us to grow and develop innovative job creation and delivery systems such as Zibambele, Vukuzakhe and the African Renaissance Road Upgrading Programme. Thank you.
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