Minister's
Introduction
Organogram
Mission Statement
Reports of the Chief Directorates
This Annual Report of the Department of Transport for the 1995-96 year reflects the activity of the first full year under the Government of National Unity. The report will confirm that this was a year in which our efforts were focussed on internal restructuring, the development of new policies and strategies and the planning of a number of radical new initiatives. This painstaking and rather unglamorous work has, however, laid a solid foundation for the dramatic changes which are to come in the transport arena.
The new policy directions developed over the year have begun to redefine the role of Government in Transport - changing its function from that of a dominant operator, a provider of infrastructure and a regulator of bureaucratic detail to one which will focus on policy, strategic planning and the regulation of substance. This change in role will be critically dependent on the restructuring of state assets. An initial report on how this could be done was approved by cabinet during this year. It will then be further developed through the creation of "arms-length" agencies providing a range of services to industry on a cost recovery basis. This will have the effect of creating a more direct relationship between service providers and clients, while the Government concentrates on monitoring and regulating.
We are going to see major public sector reforms in Transport over the coming years which will give rise to a more rational allocation of powers and functions between the three levels of government and in general produce a more integrated and customer-oriented transport system.
The major new initiatives which we have embarked upon include regional Spatial Development Initiatives like the Maputo Corridor and metropolitan initiatives like the Wetton-Lansdowne corridor in the Western Cape. Both use transport as a developmental catalyst to create more rational linkages between existing centres of economic activity and to improve the integration of communities, jobs and services.
The dominant expenditure items on the budget remained the R522m spent on National Roads and the R2b plus spent on subsidising public transport. It is within these two areas of work that the policy and strategies we have been planning this year will have the biggest impact over the coming years. While R522m from the budget was spent on roads, almost R1b was also spent from funds raised on the capital and money markets. While this money was guaranteed by Government - reducing the real risk to lenders - the development of further major infrastructure projects will be firmly based on the principle of public/private partnership, where the private sector is given more opportunity to develop infrastructure but in turn takes on more of the commercial risk. Next year will see the introduction of the first such project.
In the area of public transport we have inherited a very fragmented, highly monopolised and generally inflexible system. Change will take place, but it is likely to take longer to come to fruition since we are dealing with a highly sensitive sector which directly affects the daily lives of over 5 million people getting to work and back each day.
We have chosen to spend time and money on an effort to fundamentally
rethink the role of transport in our economy and society. In developing
our new policies and strategies and consolidating the vision we have for
transport we feel that we have found the right approach to enable transport
to make a more significant contribution to the government's broad economic
and social objectives. We feel that this was a good investment and that
the returns will begin to come in over the next two years. You will be
able to find the real test of this investment in our next Annual Report.
.......................
Mac Maharaj
Minister of Transport
The vision for South African transport is of a system which will:
"provide safe, reliable, effective, efficient, and fully integrated transport
operations and infrastructure which will best meet the needs
of freight and passenger customers at improving levels of service and
cost in a fashion which supports government strategies for
economic and social development whilst being environmentally
and economically sustainable."