Chairperson, hon Minister of Transport, hon MECs present, all hon members of the NCOP, government officials, distinguished quests, ladies and gentlemen, today we are going to bring the hon Minister good news from the Eastern Cape regarding the integrated public transport system that the hon Minister spoke about previously.
The debate takes place a few days after a historic agreement was concluded between government, the bus and taxi industries and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, which marks the turning point in the provision of public transport services to our people.
Taxi operators and operations, as we know it, will be phased out because they will become part of an integrated public transport system which will be operated on specific timetables and will make use of a variety of vehicle sizes from articulated and standard buses to minibuses, as part of the ANC-led government's effort to provide a safe, reliable and affordable transport system.
They will form five co-operatives and, as the Eastern Cape government, we will be supporting them in sourcing funding for these co-operatives as well as with any administrative services that they would need in order to run these five co-operatives.
On behalf of the Eastern Cape provincial government, I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation for the Dora, Division of Revenue Act, allocation of R148 million from the Department of Transport for the Algoa Bus Company in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. But I would like to reiterate the words of the MEC of KwaZulu-Natal to the hon Minister, to seriously consider the extension of the allocations to bus passenger services in rural areas, because it is in provinces like the Eastern Cape where the majority of our people who really need this service reside.
Already on the other side, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa is currently implementing a coach refurbishment programme to improve its rolling stock fleet in the Eastern Cape. A total of 17 coaches have been targeted for refurbishment. Ten coaches will be destined for the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality to be used during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. Special train services will be made available between Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth on match days. And renovations at North End station, which is closer to the new stadium, will have been completed by then.
Hon Chairperson, we have successfully implemented the national Department of Transport's special regulations for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup, in terms of the National Land Transport Act, Act 5 of 2009. Public transport operators were advised to visit the district offices of the Department of Transport to apply for the special operating licences for this event.
Through our Blue Skyway Aviation Strategy, we have been able to commence with the first phase of the upgrade of the Mthatha Airport in order to ensure that this airport adds value to local economic development and improves access to the Wild Coast, which is an internationally renowned tourism destination.
This upgrade will further enable the airport to receive more flights, including evening flights. These developments have prompted Airlink to introduce a flight service on the route between Port Elizabeth and Mthatha on Fridays as from 26 February 2010. This means that three of our airports, ie East London, Mthatha and Port Elizabeth, are now ready to contribute to the provincial growth and development plan of our province and our 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup plans. The remaining challenge is to make sure that all four airports, including Bhisho Airport, complement each other. Our main intention is to have an Air link between Cape Town and Mthatha via Bisho. An important goal is to link Port Elizabeth to Mthatha via Bhisho with the service geared for faster movement between these three areas.
Port Alfred-based 43 Air School continues to train student pilots at the Bhisho Airport and we are now challenged to build more accommodation complexes for this airport. Chairperson, it is gratifying to bring to the attention of this House that the airport is fast becoming the top training airport for pilots in Africa.
Regarding rural development, the award-winning Kei Rail project continues to inspire our efforts of "Moving Back to Rail". Due to our high safety standards, the Department of Transport has been granted a rail safety permit by the Railway Safety Regulator for the next three years from 2009 to 2012.
Today we are running a daily service between AmaBhele and Mthatha with an average of 12 000 passengers per month. In the last financial year this project has already created 370 employment opportunities in activities such as track maintenance, train operations, traffic management and other general maintenance of coaches and station buildings.
In an effort to improve the mobility and accessibility of our communities in the eastern part of our province, we have allocated R23,675 million for Africa's Best 350 Ltd Bus Operations. It is worth noting that this allocation is insufficient considering the challenge of access to public transport experienced by our rural communities, especially when they want to access government services like hospitals, clinics, schools and pension points.
This year we expect 24 new buses to commence operations in Butterworth and 15 additional buses to operate in the Lusikisiki area. We have allocated R39,209 million for the Mayibuye Transport Corporation, and its operations are 90% rural. There is a dire need for a greater injection of funds into this corporation in order to enhance its capacity through the refurbishment of its fleet and to ensure that its services reach more rural communities. May I just add that this corporation may go under if there is no additional intervention by government.
With regard to nonmotorised transportation, currently we have 18 containers that were converted into bicycle shops and distributed in all districts to service bicycles that were distributed through our Shova Kalula Bicycle Project.
The communities themselves have identified suitable candidates, who were trained to become sustainable bicycle shop owners or managers. Through our community-based transportation programme, we have been able to create 21 451 work opportunities for the poorest of the poor and exceeded our target of 18 000 work opportunities.
This achievement puts the department in the lead nationally in creating jobs through the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, in the 2009-10 financial year. In recognition of this achievement, the department is in line to receive an amount of R17 million in terms of the EPWP Incentive Grant for exceeding performance targets.
Our community-based transportation programme was recognised by the national Department of Public Works and was the recipient of the Komoso Award for developing and implementing the best innovative project in using labour- intensive methods in the entire country.
In the new financial year, because of the transfer of the roads, we will only create 801 work opportunities in the construction of pedestrian paths. We will increase our road rangers from 240 to 450, we will concentrate on the maintenance of our junior traffic training centres and we will also be concentrating on the maintenance of public resting places.
I think it is worth noting that the Eastern Cape was the first province to establish the provincial road safety council, which is a structure that seeks to make road safety everybody's responsibility, and this year we are going to ensure that 507 500 children and 7 829 adults are reached through the road safety education programme. With the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup around the corner we have increased our number of provincial traffic officers to 719 and they include a 187-member roving special operations task team that will be specifically focusing on tournament traffic enforcement operations. And in partnership with South African Breweries, SAB, we are going to launch the Eastern Cape's first alcohol testing centre in Port Elizabeth shortly before the start of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup tournament. [Applause.]