Consistent with the instructions of the President’s State of the Nation Address last year that we recapitalise Metrorail, I am glad to report that the SARCC has now completed the business case for the recapitalisation of Metrorail’s fleet. It is my intention in the coming weeks to present before Cabinet the fleet replacement programme of the SARCC, for consideration. Once approved, the Department of Transport and the SARCC, together with other key Government Departments such as National Treasury and Department of Trade and Industry, will be expected to commence with the process for the implementation of this strategy in the 3rd Quarter of this year. The SARCC will to this end be inviting interested parties to submit bids for participation in this programme.

As you know, the Gautrain Rapid Rail Project is well on course and we are spending R25 billion for this modern, state of the art rail system which will close a major gap in our public transport infrastructure provision and services. Honourable members, at the end of the 2007/08 financial year, the Gautrain project reached the eighteenth month of development putting Phase 1, the section between the O R Tambo International Airport and Sandton, at 40% and Phase 2, the completion of the whole project, at 33,3% of actual time elapsed since the effective date.

Honourable members, the road infrastructure continues to be a priority for us. We have embarked on a programme to improve the capacity and technology of our road infrastructure. An important partnership programme between the three spheres of Government is the Gauteng Freeway Scheme which is estimated to cost R15bn. The second phase will see the development of new highways for the 10 years after 2010 and its estimated cost is R7 billion. This will target congested intersections such as Allandale, Gillooly’s, Atterbury and provide a fourth lane allowing for a high occupancy vehicle lane including public transport. The net effect of this will be decreased travel time and reduced traffic congestion.

In its implementation, the SA National Road Agency is moving towards an open road tolling system which entails electronic collection of fees, which will be linked to intelligent transport systems. Similarly, in August this year, SANRAL will also be issuing a tender for a concession contract, which will be a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) Scheme for the Winelands area in the Western Cape.

It is also important for the house to note that the National Road Agency (SANRAL), at its inception in 1998, managed 7 000 km of national road. Today as a result of the incorporation of provincial roads into the identified strategic road network it is the custodian of 16150km of road, and plans are currently afoot in the current year to incorporate the R21 in Gauteng and R511 that joins Gauteng and North West and the R49 in the North-West.

The programme of SANRAL funded toll roads will continue during the current financial year. Through this programme, we are currently developing the N1 South & R30 Welkom (Bloemfontein), N2 Tsitsikamma Extension, N2 Knysna Bypass, N3 Marianhill Extension, N17 Extension in the Gauteng Network.

The location of these projects will enable South Africa to meet its key strategic challenges related to road infrastructure. The Gauteng Network, for instance, will ease the current congestion experienced on the network, as well as the flow of goods and people between the major metros of Gauteng, including the movement of people during the 2010 Soccer World Cup. It is anticipated that these projects with a combined value of R8, 7bn will be funded from money and capital market loans.

I must say that there has been a steady increase in the allocation for roads from the fiscus. Unfortunately this has not kept pace with the increase in prices of the various elements and material used in the construction of roads. Therefore, we will continue to constructively engage the private sector to leverage the full potential of public private partnerships to meet the funding demands.

As you are aware, the freight logistics strategy approved by Cabinet in 2005 has created a systematic framework within which to pursue investment in our freight rail environment. The vision as articulated in the strategy (NFLS) is to reform the freight sector and introduce Economic, Safety and Environmental Regulation. We are developing an institutional and regulatory framework to guide the implementation of the National Freight Logistics Strategy. We have already begun with the process of establishing the Rail Economic Regulator and my Department will soon commence with stakeholder consultations. This will inevitably change the current institutional structure of the freight industry.

We have also started a process of optimizing the various corridors as identified in the National Freight Logistics Strategy and in this regard have an update of the National Freight Databank (NFD), which will enable the mapping of the various identified corridors as per the Strategy. Through the process of developing corridor strategies various projects have been identified and are in the process of being implemented, an example of this being, the Harrismith Freight Logistics Hub, the identified N4 Truck Stop project, Cato Ridge facility, the Durban Freight Plan amongst others. These projects will contribute immensely to operational efficiencies thereby lowering the costs of transport.

The initiatives in transport reflect the priorities we have set ourselves as a country. Transnet, our premier transport and Logistics Company, is investing over the next five years a total amount of R82bn, of which R40.8bn is being spent in upgrading freight rail infrastructure and rail engineering. The upgrading of our freight rail infrastructure is key to our objective of shifting more freight from our road network to the rail network as well as finding that delicate balance between road and rail in respect of the transportation of goods.

Honourable Members, let me reemphasise that we are making steady progress in decreasing a number of fatal crashes and fatalities on our roads. This can be attributed to an improvement in coordination, better planned road traffic law enforcement operations as well as improved monitoring and evaluation over the past year. Our actions were further intensified through the National Rolling Enforcement Plan, which included all provinces, metros and municipalities.