The budget allocated for the Department of Transport (DoT) will be R68.6 billion in the 2018/19 financial year, with the largest portion set aside for road transport and infrastructure.
This was announced by transport minister, Blade Nzimande, during his budget vote speech in Parliament, Cape Town, today.
The breakdown of the budget is as follows:
- R27 billion for roads transport
- R18 billion for rail transport
- R182 million for civil aviation
- R120 million for maritime transport
Meanwhile, R13 billion has been allocated to public transport, R90 million to integrated transport planning and R430 million for administration.
R3 billion of the budget set aside for road transport has been allocated for the upgrade of the Limpopo and Mpumalanga sections of the Moloto Road (R573), which is expected to create an estimated 12 500 jobs over the five-year period of the project.
Additionally, government will take a final decision regarding the planned rail component of the Moloto corridor within the next 12 months.
“This year we will continue to develop our road network to unlock the Northern Mineral Belt in the Waterberg District of Limpopo, the Durban-Free State-Gauteng Logistics and Industrial Corridor, the South Eastern node and corridor development – including the Mtatha Airport and the N2 Wild Coast – to unlock the economic opportunities in the North-West Province,” said Nzimande.
Nzimande noted that he intended to restructure the department to improve capacity for planning, innovation, skills development as well as improved oversight, monitoring and support.
“To give effect to this priority, we have started to review the shape, size, structure and location of our entities,” he said. “This intervention will help us to solve the many challenges we face in transport, whether it be traffic congestion, road crashes and fatalities, the taxi industry and the role of transport as the heartbeat of our economy, amongst others.”
This year the DoT will be working closely with the Department of Science and Technology, Higher Education and Training and state research institution to lead an initiative aimed at enticing the public and private sector to invest in the transport sector.
Nzimande announced that consultations within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the broader African continent would be intensified in order to position the transport sector as a key mechanism for regional and continental integration.
“In line with its ambition to unlock Africa regional trade, the Cross Border Roads Transport Agency is working tirelessly to harmonise standards in SADC for cross-border transport governance,” he added.
