2013 Department of Transport and Public Works Budget Speech

Mr Speaker, I rise today in support of the Department of Transport and Public Works Budget 2013/2014 in the amount of R4 639 226 000, rising to R5 038 029 000 and R5 975 764 000 in the outer years of the MTEF.

The administration vision which informs the structuring of this Budget is that of creating an open opportunity society for all so that people can live lives they value.

The departmental mission is to develop and maintain appropriate infrastructure and related services for sustainable economic development which generates growth in jobs and facilitates empowerment and opportunity.

This provision and maintenance of infrastructure is the core responsibility of the Department.

When a state fails to maintain its assets, it fails as a state – functionally, economically, politically and socially – and eventually descends into chaos, as is happening in much of South Africa.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the failure of rail, which is driving more and more freight and passengers onto roads that are less and less capable of sustaining their increased loads.

Whilst the Province has been able to maintain its roads, it is not able to influence the policy and action of a national government presiding over the steady deterioration of its most important mobility asset.

Our departmental imperative is to deliver our mandated services to our 6 million provincial citizens, and particularly to those 2 million who live below the poverty datum line.

Core Functions

Our vision and mission dictate the seven core functions of this Department:

1. To conduct the overall management and administrative support of the Department.
2. To promote accessibility and the safe, affordable movement of people, goods and services through the delivery and maintenance of transport infrastructure that is sustainable, integrated and environmentally sensitive, and which supports and facilitates social and economic growth through socially just, developmental and empowering processes.
3. To plan, regulate and facilitate the provision of public and freight transport services through our own resources and partnerships in order to enhance the mobility of people and commodities, and provide access to safe and efficient transport through an integrated public transport network.
4. To utilise provincial property (immoveable assets) to act as a catalyst in achieving provincial objectives related to economic growth, social development and a sustainable environment.
5. To provide an appropriately authorised transport environment through the registration and licensing of vehicles, associations, operators and drivers; the issuing of driving licences; the certification of motor vehicles as roadworthy for use on public roads; the issuing of permits for abnormal load vehicles and events on public roads and to record crash data, exercise overload control and promote safety on public roads.
6. To plan, regulate and facilitate the provision of accommodation for client departments and related entities; manage the provincial property portfolio for the optimum benefit of all concerned; render professional, technical and implementing agent services in respect of buildings and other related infrastructure and facilitate infrastructure planning in the Province of the Western Cape.
7. To co-ordinate, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the EPWP and to develop and empower communities and contractors.

Read the full 2013 Department of Transport and Public Works Budget Speech.