Infrastructure funding remains our biggest challenge - DoT

Funding and financing of transport infrastructure remains one of the greatest challenges for the Department of Transport, its director-general George Mahlalela told delegates at this year’s Road Freight Association conference in Botswana recently. “We did see an increase in investment during the World Cup but that was not enough to address the maintenance backlog. The fact is we are under-investing in our road infrastructure,” he said. Only one percent of GDP is currently being invested in road infrastructure and it is being felt across the country as various sectors raise concern over the state of the roads. “We are happy to say we have secured more funding for the next three years but it is not enough if one takes into account the consistent increase in our logistics costs from R194 billion in 2003 to R317 billion in 2007 or 15% of GDP, with transport costs making up 53% of the total logistic cost. “We are faced with the challenge of maintaining the level of investment that we saw prior to the World Cup,” he said. “While we may not achieve that it is important that government and stakeholders like yourselves all have a clear understanding of where we are going as a country and plan accordingly.”