The Department of Transport (DoT) plans to use the recently established SADC Cross-Border Road Transport Regulators’ Forum to drive transport conversations between countries and harmonise regulatory frameworks in the region.
In his presentation at the annual Road Freight Association conference held in Hermanus recently, Msondezi Futshane, DoT acting deputy director-general for road transport, said the forum provided an ideal communication platform for road transport regulators and transport ministries in the inland SADC member-states to share information, lobby and influence one another.
Launched late last year following the successful International Road Transport Indaba hosted by the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency (CBRTA), the SADC Cross Border Road Transport Regulators’ Forum has been embraced by the region as a whole.
“Our intention as the South African government is to make use of this forum to realise the objectives of harmonisation of the regulatory framework and systematic achievement of common objectives for all SADC, EAC and Comesa member-states,” said Futshane. “Through this forum we seek to monitor compliance by all inland member states to Chapters 5 and 6 of the SADC Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology. The full implementation of these chapters of the SADC Protocol will result in tackling some of the greatest challenges in the sector, including the vexing issue of third-party insurance and discriminatory application of road user charges by different member states.”
He said with this in mind the DoT had instructed its representatives in the forum to tackle these issues in particular while the DoT had embarked on a process to include cross-border road charges as part of the road policy of government currently under development.
“At the behest of the industry, the C-BRTA has also reopened discussions with the National Treasury on the review of the issue of third party insurance, to ensure consistent application throughout the region,” he said.
