Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has placed mobility and infrastructure front and centre of future planning for the province with the launch of two new departments to address these two key areas.
Addressing members of the Exporters’ Club Western Cape (ECWC), Winde said these were critical developments to future-proof the province and allow it to plan ahead and not just in five-year segments as was currently the case in South Africa.
“We have five-year political terms, three-year budget cycles, and one-year budgets in government. Quite frankly, five years is nothing and we are not looking at challenges from a big picture perspective. Where was the future planning for energy in South Africa 20 years ago?”
Winde said with this in mind the province would also be focusing on future planning.
“A mobility department is being set up as we speak. We have visited similar departments in other countries to see how they operate. We are now putting together a platform and bringing stakeholders on board that can address mobility in this province, not only for now but in the future,” he said. “We are also going to establish an infrastructure department. The reality is that we just don’t have sufficient infrastructure. The current stage 6 load shedding and the bottlenecks at our ports are indicative of this. If we are looking at the growth in agriculture volumes alone then we have some serious problems coming our way.”
At the same time, said Winde, water had to be addressed. “We might have mitigated the risks of Day Zero last time around, but the water crisis is not over. How many dams have we built since the last drought?”
Winde said the current three-tier system of government allowed provincial governments to “pass the buck” to the national government on certain issues such as policing or water - or even electricity and the ports.
“The answer is that this is simply not good enough. In this province, it is time we take responsibility and develop a stronger infrastructure, addressing some of the challenges we know we face.”
He said while the infrastructure department had not yet been set up, budget for it was already being developed. “We have set out R30 billion over the next three years for infrastructure as we are committed to creating a better future. The focus of this government is on two things – safety and jobs. That is what we have to get right.”
