Transport infrastructure gets budget boost

FINANCE MINISTER Trevor
Manuel mentioned “transport”
seven times in his 2008
budget.
One of the announcements
was increased expenditure on
infrastructure, including road
and rail.
“A total of R17 billion
is added to the budgets
of the departments of
housing, provincial and local
government, water affairs,
sport and recreation and
transport over the next
three years, mainly for
infrastructure,” he said.
He also warned that
changes were being forced
by the growing shortage of
energy resources – both fossil
fuels and electric power.
“Our economic growth
over the next decade and
beyond cannot be built on
the same principles and
technologies, the same
energy systems and the same
transport modes that we are
familiar with today,” he said.