Chairperson, we in Cope have five profound concerns when it comes to the issue of transportation, which is, by the way, the life blood of our economy.
The concerns that we have are as follows: The massive congestion experienced in our major cities; our total reliance on costly imported crude oil, which is rapidly depleting resources; the taxi issue; the underutilisation of rail; and the corridor developments.
Congestion wastes millions of hours and contributes to millions of litres of fuel being wasted and millions of tons of carbon dioxide being emitted into the air, thus impacting on air quality and health. Scientists estimate that transportation accounts for about 20% of worldwide CO2 emissions. Vehicles also release particulate matter, which has been linked to an increased risk of cancer.
The busiest cities in our country are Johannesburg, Cape Town, Tshwane, Durban and Port Elizabeth. These are the major drivers of the South African economy. It is imperative that government must start to take a multiplicity of measures to sort out congestion in our country.
Oil is expected to last another 30 years or so, and then we will have a resource depletion problem. Therefore, we need to plan ahead to stay ahead. The question that needs to be asked is: Does government have a 10-year plan for transportation?
Cope acknowledges that the development of the Bus Rapid Transport, BRT, system is a positive move. Alongside that, we strongly suggest that government take a leaf out of the book of New Delhi in India. I'm happy that the Minister spoke about India to a certain extent. I would therefore learn from the example they have set.
In the last decade that city has managed to decrease carbon monoxide levels by 32% and sulphur dioxide levels by 39% because New Delhi's entire public transport fleet of 80 000 vehicles and 9 000 buses now run on compressed natural gas, CNG. This happened because of sustained judicial pressure. Now New Delhi has created the infrastructure necessary for the fuelling of vehicles using CNG. Today it has established 110 CNG stations in the city.
Cope strongly believes that the issue of sustainability in respect of transportation has to be given top priority. In addressing the question of sustainability, attention must be given to the increasing cost of importing oil, the environmental damage done by its use, and the long-term economic impact if we continue to rely on crude oil.
In all our major cities a very large number of commuters have over time become reliant on their cars to get to and from the city. These commuters will not easily be persuaded to abandon their cars, Mr Minister. Government will, however, have to consider encouraging single car users either to use public transport or, alternatively, to create transport pools to diminish the number of cars on our busy roads. As a society, we must burn less oil than we are doing at present, and every individual must contribute to that effort.
Cope recognises that our economy is in a very vulnerable position, because no one has any idea where the price of crude oil is going to be five years from now. Whenever the price of fuel goes up - which in any case has kept going up time and again - other costs also go up, unfortunately. The increasing cost of transportation will make local, regional and international trade difficult. Our economy will, therefore, continue to come under increasing pressure. Our country needs to know if this government has put alternative plans into operation or if it is waiting for a crisis to occur and plunge us into chaos before it takes any action.
On the taxi issue, this is one hurdle that the government has, unfortunately, just not been able to overcome. It is not in the interest of our economy for the taxi industry problem to remain unresolved. Commuters have a right to good service, legal cover and safety. People in our country are waiting to hear when and how the problem with the taxi industry is going to be put to rest. The people in our country who are most affected by taxi strife are the working classes of South Africa, who reside in far- removed townships established to suit apartheid-era planning. These are the people who suffered in the past, and they continue to suffer today.
On the question of rail transport Cope is very concerned that only half of our country's 20 000km of track is being fully utilised. Even more alarming is the fact that 35% of the nation's track has either very little or no activity whatsoever. This is a sad state of affairs and will have serious implications for our economy. We would like the Minister to explain what priority the country is giving to rail transport.
Finally, let me turn to corridor development. It is now time for government to produce a report on what investments government has made in corridor development, the economic growth that had taken place along such corridors and the number of jobs that have thus been created.
Transport is pivotal to our economy and to our survival. The ramifications of energy scarcity and its impact on the design of future supply chains is a matter we should be addressing in some detail in this debate. Unfortunately, we get the impression that it is business as usual and that government is giving the impression that the present mode of transport is guaranteed for the foreseeable future.
The lack of a fall-back plan for transportation must make all of us apprehensive. The world has already gone through a terrible financial crisis. Neither the world nor our country can experience another massive crisis. We therefore want the government to come up with a plan B so that we are not left stranded. I thank you. [Applause.]