Creation of freight data bank under way

The Department of Transport has
committed to the creation of a national
freight data bank which could be up
and running by August this year.
That was the
message from Minister
of Transport, Dipuo
Peters, at the Road
Freight Association’s
(RFA) recent annual
conference.
Peters believes it
will make a major
difference to planning
and strategising
around freight.
“The lack of
accurate, current
consolidated data
and information on
freight movements
is an ongoing challenge for all of us
and we are therefore in the process
of collecting freight data so that we
can develop a national freight data
bank,” she said. “This will improve
freight planning and strategy across all
modes of transport which will in turn
reduce the cost of doing business and
infrastructure gaps. I can confirm we
have data on facilities, freight traffic,
volumes and the types of commodities
on various corridors and modes
already in place. Our efforts with
regard to data collection are ongoing.”
She said data would also go a long
way in strenghtening the freight
strategy on which
the country had
embarked.
“Through this
strategy we have
started mapping out
various corridors in
the country, with the
Durban-Free State-
Gauteng corridor one
of the most important
projects. It is also
part of the strategic
integrated projects
and is therefore being
looked at from a
national point of view.”
She said reducing the cost
of business and ensuring that
investments were directed at the
correct infrastructure upgrades was
imperative for the country’s long-term
economic outlook and for planning
future corridors.
She said government was also
heavily involved in developing
a regional corridor strategy in
alignment with SADC protocol.
INSERT & CAPTION
We have data on
facilities, freight
traffic, volumes
and the types of
commodities on various
corridors.
– Dipuo Peters