The two key logistics provinces of South Africa – Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal – are making inroads with their transport development strategies, particularly at a time when growing the economy is urgent, to keep up with international trade and decarbonise.
Speaking at the Transport Evolution Africa conference, hosted on November 29 and 30, National African Federation for the Building Industry president Aubrey Tshalata said the bigger challenge the transport sector needed to help resolve was the isolation of Africa – in terms of Covid-19 vaccine distribution and trade.
He acknowledged in his opening remarks that the transport sector played an important role in ensuring South Africa and the continent was able to fast-track economic growth and use transport networks for development, job creation and improvements in society.
KwaZulu-Natal Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Peggy Nkonyeni noted that conferences were increasingly focused on discussions around investment in “connecting Africa” as a region and to the international community through various transport modes.
“We want to see transport infrastructure in South Africa become world class, and, beyond that, ensure that we effectively use road, rail, aviation and maritime transport to expedite growth on the continent,” she added.
Regional integration has been on the African Union agenda for more than 50 years.
She said the provincial government of KwaZulu-Natal, in its strategic planning sessions, was looking at ways to incorporate the different transport modes into its development programmes, particularly to move cargo from road to rail, as congestion was worsening, particularly at the Durban port.
Nkonyeni said the province adopted “transport as a gateway to Africa and the world” as a theme and it wanted to capitalise on the Dube TradePort and King Shaka International Airport, as well as the Richards Bay and Durban ports, to realise objectives.
She mentioned that national government was planning to invest R900-billion on infrastructure projects by 2027, if all goes according to plan, including major highway upgrades in KwaZulu-Natal.
As the province, however, it is focusing on projects that connect with the rest of Africa, including construction of the P318 road in Sunnypass, which connects to Lesotho.
“Our transport network gives birth to new businesses and job opportunities and is thereby the backbone of the economy.”
Nkonyeni said the KwaZulu-Natal government had acknowledged, on many occasions. the prevailing challenges around effective transport in the province, including congestion and cost, as well as environmental degradation.
She listed the main priorities as being expanded ports, rail infrastructure rollouts, enhancing maritime transport, airports development, including upgrades of old airports and technology advancement all round on various transport networks.
For example, “smart port cities” were envisioned to use drones to help with crime mitigation and resolving traffic blockages.
“South Africa reportedly has the best rail network in Africa; however, port capacity shortages remain a severe constraint for international and regional trade. Investing in rail is critical as we plan to move more goods from road to rail, which will reduce carbon emissions, increase the lifespan of road networks and reduce fatalities on the road.
“A multimodal transport network is crucial for the province if a connected Africa strategy is to be realised,” she summarised.
GAUTENG
Although Gauteng is a landlocked province, its road network still accounts for more than 90% of goods movement in South Africa and 60% of freight goods, in particular, move through the province at some point, said Gauteng Public Transport and Roads Infrastructure MEC Jacob Mamabolo.
Gauteng is a hub of freight and logistics, connecting major arterial roads and facilitates major cross-border trade. The road network, in particular, is a feeder into rail, aviation and other forms of transport.
He highlighted the need for the province to continue to shape its transport network to enable economic growth, which had been done before when Gauteng drove the economic development of the country through gold mining.
Mamabolo explained that Gauteng’s development strategy ‘Growing Gauteng Together 2030’ is premised on smart mobility. “Gauteng was built on a fossil, non-renewable resource (gold) but those good old days are gone and never to come back. Therefore, to rebuild a resilient Gauteng, we need to look at transport infrastructure, particularly a smart road network.”
He said it was imperative that transport, logistics, freight and warehousing became more effective, if South African commodities were to remain globally competitive.
“The way in which we deliver roads needs to follow the private sector and where they want to invest, while remaining cognisant of the fact that roads are in and of itself an attractive investment prospect if done right.
“It is critical to consider where best to build which roads, having in place proper supply chain processes, accounting for community unrest variables and ensuring that projects are transformative.”
However, Mamabolo pointed out that, when talking about the evolution of the road network, the soft issues also needed attention, including decarbonisation, crime, fatalities and congestion, as these also impact on the “investability” of road projects by the private sector.
“The evolution of the road network depends on using smart technologies to increase the efficiency and safety of the road,” he concluded.