SPEECH BY KWAZULU-NATAL MEC FOR TRANSPORT, SAFETY AND SECURITY MR BHEKI CELE AT THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE WHITE PAPER ON KZN FREIGHT TRANSPORT POLICY AT THE GOLDEN HORSE HOTEL, PIETERMARITZBURG ON FRIDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2004.

Honourable Minister of Transport, Jeff Radebe
His Worship the Mayor of Umsunduzi Municipality; Cllr Hloni Zondi
Chairperson of the Transport Portfolio Committee; Mr Singh
Members of the Portfolio Committee
Head of KZN Department of Transport; Dr Kwazi Mbanjwa
Officials of KZN Department of Transport
Officials of National Department of Transport
Officials of Department of Public Enterprises
Officials of Department of Trade and Industry
Officials of Gauteng Department of Transport
Officials of Eastern Cape Department of Transport
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen:

We as the Department of Transport in KZN have realized the importance of our province in terms of exports and imports. More than 75% of imports and exports for the whole country and the region move through this province.

During 2002 we established the Freight Transport Directorate with its objectives amongst others, being to ensure that the freight transport industry is transformed in such a way that it also benefits the small and emerging operators, and to reverse the current situation where the industry is dominated by large companies only.

The road freight industry is highly dominated by large companies and extensive intervention is needed to rectify this situation. Transformation should be clearly visible. However, we welcome the owner-driver schemes, and feel that these owner-drivers must be developed to become entrepreneurs themselves one day and cannot remain mere perpetual drivers. 

Another problem that exists is that of overloading which is destroying our roads at an alarming rate and we do not have the funds to attend to these damages which are estimated at approximately R750 million per annum. We are working on means and ways to minimize these damages to our roads, especially our provincial roads. 

This White Paper has been developed with among other objectives:

• To promote the development of economic activity and growth within KwaZulu-Natal as well as providing transit corridors for the hinterland of the two major ports, and 

• To support and improve employment creation and SMME opportunity potential in freight transportation, through distribution and transport services into industry, agriculture and government departments. 

This policy should be viewed as the initial step to setting an enabling environment towards the achievement of a sustainable freight transport system in the province and the country as a whole. 

The policy will endeavour to address among others the following issues: 

Our provincial rail branch lines are characterized by gross under-utilization while, as I have pointed out, our roads are over-utilized. We want to optimize this modal split and make sure that all transport infrastructure is optimally utilized. 

The KZN Department of Transport in conjunction with the National Department of Transport has recently completed a rail branch line study to identify SMME opportunities. If rail branch lines in KZN would operate optimally, the study revealed that 70 SMME’s resulting in more than 1000 sustainable jobs could be created. 

Subsequent to this study, we embarked on a study to identify a model that can be applied to revive branch lines and optimally split cargo between road and rail. This model has been shared with the National Department of Transport and together we have already initiated the process of implementing the model in our branch lines. 

The initial line will be the Nkwalini rail line to Empangeni and our policy emphasizes strongly the intention of shifting cargo from road to rail where this will benefit the country as a whole. 

The farming community in the Zululand Region has recently approached us. They were warning us that due to the misunderstanding with the current rail operator, Spoornet they may be switching to road transport for the movement of their sugar cane. This would be a disaster for our road network. My message to them is that they should please hang on there. It won’t be long before we address their problem. 

The same applies to the timber industry especially in the Natal Midlands. It has come to the attention of us that proposed tariff increase by Spoornet would force them to switch to road. They should also be patient as we are going to be tackling the problem head on in conjunction with NDOT & DPE. 

With regards to the Aviation Industry, we are excited about the proposed development of the King Shaka Airport and Dube Trade Port. As long as these projects are both economically and socially sustainable, they will have our full support and we will make sure that our previously disadvantaged communities derive some benefit from these projects. 

This is the key towards international trade and inefficiency in this industry can affect the country and the South African Development Community (SADC) region’s economy. 

It is for this reason that the KZN Department of Transport will promote the current efficiency of our freight corridors and continually seek ways to improve the regional and international competitiveness of the transportation system that serves each port. 

We have become aware of the problem around the Port of Durban in connection with heavy vehicle congestion and accidents resulting there from. In conjunction with all the relevant Stakeholders we are facilitating the establishment of a world-class truck -stops facility near the Port of Durban. This will improve port operations and also contributes towards enhancement of International Competitiveness of our Country.

Recent studies reveal that 500 million litres of cargo per annum are on other modes, especially road which should be in the pipelines. This is a worrying concern for the Province as these dangerous goods are not only a hazard to motorists but also to the environment when they accidentally spill on our roads. For this reason our policy encourages optimal utilization of pipeline transport system for appropriate products. 

Finally, I wish to highlight the reasons behind the need for a Freight Transport Policy.

Freight transportation embraces both the domestic and international conveyance of goods by all modes of transport. The post-apartheid era has moved South Africa from the legacy of an import driven economy, reliant on the support of cheap raw commodity exports, to an export led growth strategy. The challenge to government is now to support the export competitiveness, as well as to focus on correcting the spatial legacy of apartheid developments. The growth of our economy is built on the foundation of value added exports as well as the successful integration into the SADC and global markets. 

The purpose of developing such a policy is to provide strategic direction for the freight transportation industry and to facilitate socio-economic development in the province. The policy will ensure unity in vision and coordinated action amongst stakeholders at national, provincial, local and community levels. It will serve as a catalyst for developing future plans for the province and it stipulates key objectives for the development of a strategy and the implementation thereof. It also proposes coordinative structures that foster the integrated approach required for the holistic development of the country. 

The freight policy will result in:

• The preservation of the infrastructure;

• Seamless intermodal operations;

• Improved service to customers and users of the freight industry by reducing costs and improving reliability and timeous delivery to increase global competitiveness;

• Optimised use of capacity and effective management of operations;

• Job creation and establishment of SMME's but not at the expense of competitiveness.

To protect the infrastructure, the policy aims to ensure a balanced modal split and this will require moving a significant amount of cargo back onto rail transportation. Therefore a major focus will be on the revitalization of rail infrastructure. 

Let me express my heartfelt gratitude to you ladies and gentlemen for attending this function today. We may be inviting you to the proposed Freight Transport Empowerment Summit in a near future. This summit will pave the way towards the real transformation of the Freight Transport Industry. Your experience and expertise will help us achieving this. 

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