Ndebele seeks US help on transport funding

(Image: GCIS)

The Department of Transport said on Sunday bilateral discussions were held with the US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood on Friday at the US Department of Transport offices in Washington.

Other areas up for discussion were road safety and aviation.

The Department confirmed Ndebele requested LaHood to assist SA by mobilising financial and other resources for transport training and related capacity building initiatives.

In response, LaHood said the US Department of Transport was working on a transport training programme for SA, in particular for government officials as well as youth and women.

Many would say this comes a little late as even with funding from the fiscus and tolls, a road construction and maintenance shortfall is not far off R100bn in SA. The Department of Transport admitted well before the toll debacle, in 2011, that there was an urgent need to review the funding model.

The ANC is taking a month to review alternatives to funding the toll roads.

Massive backlog in road maintenance

However, the road maintenance backlog is presumed to be far higher, estimated at over R160bn. Government spending is only just over R20bn and additional sources are desperately needed. SA still does not have a proper management system in place to monitor road conditions, with serious potholes remaining in place for months.

"Our countries share a rich and deep friendship. We must ensure that transportation investment generates economic recovery. SA is a key transportation and economic hub. Minister Ndebele is a world leader in road safety. We will, therefore, continue to share friendship and cooperation," said LaHood.

Ndebele added: "We must share experiences on road safety because in SA we have major challenges with regard to road crashes, where we lose thousands of lives every month. This has seen us come up with several targeted strategies to reduce road carnage. We also want to partner with the US on training and development in the fields of maritime, aviation and road safety."

The US and SA transport departments have established a Transportation Working Group, which held its third meeting in Washington on 4 May, to take these issues forward.

In September 2011, the SA and US governments signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on transport.

The agreement serves as an umbrella agreement to incorporate sector specific initiatives, including future cooperation in the areas of maritime, rail, aviation, infrastructure as well as training and research technology.