Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members and guests, following decades of neglect and racially skewed transport legislation, planning and development, the ANC government embarked in 1994 on a process of improving public transport and infrastructure, both in urban and rural areas. Public transport plays a significant role, both in urban and rural areas, in enhancing urban mobility, reducing road congestion, decreasing the impact on the environment through harmful emissions and better serving the community.
South Africa has different modes of transport. Each one of them has a specific role to play. The aim of the department is to develop an integrated transport infrastructure plan at national and provincial level, and this is welcome. The purpose of the plan is to facilitate sustainable long-term socioeconomic growth in South Africa.
The responsibility of the South African National Road Agency Limited, Sanral, is to maintain and develop South Africa's national road network from 16 170km to 20 000km by October 2010. There is an improvement made by Sanral in planning, designing, building and rehabilitating our roads. Sanral is also responsible for toll-road development.
While there is an improvement, the agency must consider the creation of alternative roads for those who cannot afford high toll fees. In Mpumalanga, when travelling from Komatipoort to Johannesburg, you need to have approximately R220 for toll fees for the return trip. This is a matter of concern.
The lack of bridges in rural areas is still a major challenge. In some areas learners are unable to attend schools during heavy rains because they cannot walk from one area to another.
The safety of property and life at sea depends on the South African Maritime Safety Authority, Samsa. The challenge faced by Samsa is to transform the industry and to deal with the high rate of pollution of the maritime environment. The Samsa turnaround and repositioning plan and training of seafarers will improve its operations. We welcome the establishment of a national maritime industry and the roll-out of the implementation of the small vessels and inland waterways regulations while waiting for the tabling of the Maritime Transport Security Bill.
The Airports Company of South Africa, Acsa, is responsible for the development of airports infrastructure, retail and car parking facilities. We congratulate Acsa for upgrading and improving the standards of our airports, especially OR Tambo International, Cape Town and other airports. We again commend Acsa for building the King Shaka Airport in Durban and the upgrading of parking at all the airports.
Acsa has also tried to improve the security measures in our airports. The major challenge remains the theft of passengers' possessions from their luggage. This is a matter for concern and needs urgent attention.
Chairperson, we are ready for the 2010 World Cup. We would like to congratulate Acsa for a job well done.
The South African Civil Aviation Authority, Sacaa, is responsible for providing, regulating, supporting and ensuring safety throughout civil aviation. Its intensive oversight resulted in fewer incidents and accident investigations. There were fewer court cases against Sacaa in 2008-09 compared to previous years. We also accept the shift of transferring this programme to the department, hoping that it will be given the serious attention it deserves to ensure safety in civil aviation.
Air Traffic and Navigation Services, ATNS, plays a vital role in economic development and poverty reduction in Africa. I appreciate the work done by ATNS in providing traffic services and technical training to South African students and those from other countries. It is facing the challenge of recruiting and retaining skilled personnel like air traffic controllers. It has lost close to 150 air traffic controllers to the Middle East.
As ATNS is faced with the challenge of scarce skills, the provision of bursaries to students and of engineering and technical learnerships is a step in the right direction in dealing with this problem.
The other matter to be attended to is the delay of flights, which seems to be a daily event nowadays. It really inconveniences passengers. To minimise delays, let us correct what we can.
The function of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, is to ensure that rail commuter services are provided in the best public interest and to expand public transport by providing buses. Previously, Prasa had the following challenges: Ageing rolling stock; vandalism and theft, which negatively affected the service of railway lines; limited funding, resulting in the decline of the condition of the infrastructure; criminal activities taking place in stations and inside the trains; and the diminishing of the skills base.
Of all these challenges, Prasa has been able to refurbish its coaches in 2009-10. There is also a budget of R8 billion that has been set aside for the maintenance of rail infrastructure. This indicates that government has prioritised the challenges of infrastructure maintenance. Prasa has also been able to build bridges for the safety of pedestrians and it has improved Shosholoza Meyl.
I have experienced their service and I am inviting members to book Shosholoza Meyl. There is improved security in the stations and trains and their condition is much improved. They are always kept clean. It is true that Prasa has been able to transform the rail industry. We need to congratulate them.
The responsibility of the port regulator is the economic regulation of the South African port system, consistent with the government strategic objectives. The agency has been able to establish offices and recruit staff.
There are challenges that affected them in the execution of their functions: The issue of part-time regulators; delays in the approval of directives, which are the guidelines for the regulators; noncompliance of regulators with the Public Finance Management Act, Act 1 of 1999, PFMA, and Treasury regulations, such as strategic plans which are not finalised and approved in time; failure to report predetermined objectives in the annual report; and failure of the agency to report performance against the predetermined objectives as required by the PFMA. The department and the regulator need to attend to these challenges and ensure that the regulator has effective, efficient and transparent internal control systems in place to do performance management.
The department has conducted feasibility studies on the Moloto Development Corridor. There is slow progress in the development of that corridor. I am happy that the Minister said something about it. The department has underspent on this programme from 2007-08 to 2009-10; especially in 2009, when close to 70% of the budget was not spent.
The department has reviewed the overloading strategy because overloading is contributing to the destruction of our roads and it is costing the country millions of rands per year to fix them. We have weighbridges and mobile weighbridges to be used in dealing with these challenges. The shortage of staff and space at some of the bridges, and the lack of visibility of traffic officers in some areas, remain challenges that need to be addressed.
Government has done much to improve road infrastructure. The challenge was to balance the building of new roads with the maintenance of the existing ones. Therefore, government made the maintenance of road and rail infrastructure a priority in the transport sector as it embarked on a programme of increased infrastructure spending. On the other hand, there was the challenge of maintenance versus renewal of road infrastructure. We know that the causes of poor roads conditions can be attributed to many factors, such as damage by continuous heavy rains; lack of a maintenance plan and budget; skill shortages of people such as engineers and artisans; institutional change, especially in local government; and the long period it takes to fix potholes. We are aware that lack of road maintenance compromises road safety.
As far as development of our roads is concerned, there are challenges but also successes, which need to be appreciated. We commend the fact that learner drivers from 16 to 18 years can now have learner driver's licences, but the greatest challenge is the issue of attitude, intolerance and non- compliance, which should also be dealt with.
We welcome the finalisation of the draft of the implementation strategy and action plan to achieve accessibility to public transport. It has been long overdue.
While people might be interested in walking, our roads are a problem because some of them don't have cyclist and pedestrian walkways. This should be attended to when new roads are built.
Buses and trains are being subsidised, but the taxi industry is still not. The department should consider the matter and ensure that the industry is being empowered.
We appreciate the fact that the Minister mentioned the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences, Aarto, because it was a matter of concern. Aarto and the implementation of the National Land Transport Act, Act 5 of 2009, are overdue. Some of the clauses of the National Land Transport Act, Act 5 of 2009, cannot be implemented because the regulator has not been appointed so far.
The department needs to strengthen its oversight public entities that are accountable to it and it should ensure that they respond to the public mandate, acting in terms of economic transformation objectives. Much has been achieved by the ANC-led government in the past 15 years. As the ANC we are still committed to doing more. As we know, voting for the ANC is voting for a better life for all South Africans.
With the support of the people and the dedicated departmental staff, the ANC-led government can take the country forward. Therefore, I move that the House should support the budget for the Department of Transport. I thank you. [Interjections.] [Applause.]