Task team seeks alternatives to truck ban

Alan Peat
A PRIVATE sector task team - approved by the Gauteng government - has been appointed to look for alternative answers to relieving congestion on the provincial freeway network.
This is an attempt to prevent the proposed provincial authority ban on heavy trucks on highways during the peak hours.
The team comprises representatives from the road transport body, the Road Freight Association (RFA), and large companies in the food and drinks, building and construction, freight forwarding and grocery industries - all of whom have a heavy involvement in freight transport.
Its brief is to study alternative solutions that have been used by other countries and to assess whether any of these could be applicable to the SA scene.
But, while the task team is welcomed by the MEC for public transport, roads and works, Khabisi Mosunkutu, and he acknowledged the need to improve business efficiency, he nevertheless warned that "the process must not be delayed".
Mosunkutu declared that the proposed truck ban was part of the province's overall congestion strategy to deal with what he described as an "untenable situation that could not be left unattended". He cited the pollution costs of the daily "five kilometre parking sites" along major arterials.
In his view, and refraining from using the word "ban", Mosunkutu stressed that an answer would be to "constrain movement of heavy duty vehicles during peak hours".
But, said the Johannesburg Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), the Gauteng government's proposed ban could have far-reaching economic consequences - not only for the province, but for the entire southern African region. (See stories on page 10).