THE QUESTION
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO 623
DATE REPLY SUBMITTED: 24 APRIL 2013
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: FRIDAY, 29 MARCH 2013
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO 10 â 2013)
Mr I M Ollis (DA) to ask the Minister of Transport:
1) (a) When will the Taxi Recapitalization Programme end and (b) what
will the budget requirement be to end the programme;
(2) how many taxis (a) have been recapitalized yearly since the
start of the programme and (b) does he intend to recapitalize;
(3 ) what amount (a) has been spent each year since the start of the
programme and (b) will taxi owners receive in the future when they
recapitalize their taxis;
(4) how will (a) he incentivize the recapitalization of taxis in the
future and (b) taxis that have not been recapitalized by the end of
the current programme be dealt with in the future?
NW782E
3. THEWRITTEN REPLY
The Minister of Transport
1) (a)The Taxi RecapitalizationProgram(TRP) was officially commenced
in October 2006. The Program was approved by Cabinet on a proposed
plan of scrapping 100Â 000 vehicles over seven years on an estimated
budget of R7.7bn. In exchange for the old scrap vehicle Government
will compensate operators R50Â 000 as a form of capital subsidy
towards the purchase of a new compliant vehicle.
In June 2008 the Department realized that the program would not be
completed in the anticipated 7 years since the annual allocations
from National Treasury were not in line with the required R1.1
billion per year. In an attempt to resolve this a Funding Strategy
was developed highlighting the challenges and requirement to
achieve the objectives of the program in the envisaged 7 years.
In February 2009, Cabinet resolved:
The following are extracts of the resolutions taken at the Cabinet
meeting dated 4 February 2009;
⢠âapproved the annual Consumer Price Index-linked adjustment to
the Taxi RecapitalisationProgramme (TRP) scrapping allowance of
R50Â 000â;
⢠âapproved the approach of funding the TRP over a longer period
than the originally approved seven years, subject to Medium Term
Expenditure Framework (MTEF) budget allocationâ
(b) In view of the Cabinet Decision taken in February 2009 in
respect of the Funding Strategy, the Department cannot provide an
accurate Budget amount of the program at completion.
The Program was approved to be ongoing in line with MTEF
allocations. The allowance will increase annually with inflation in
line with CPI. These two unknown variables the timeframe and the
value of future CPI makes it difficult to speculate the exact cost
of the Program at the end of its term after scrapping 135894
vehicles.
(2) (a)The following table detail the number of vehicles scrapped
per Province per financial year as at the end of February 2013.
[pic]
(b) As per the approves Funding Strategy the number of vehicles to be
scrapped is detailed below:
| |SLP/BLC Applicants â | | |
|Initially identified|not considered for |Semi â legal|Total |
|Vehicles |conversion by OLB | | |
|100,000 |2,550 |33,344 |135,894 |
Semi-legal operators
A substantial number of semi legal operators were identified through
the initiation and implementation of the TRP. There were deadlines
regulated for operators to apply for operating licenses and not all
operators who applied prior to the deadline were granted these. One
of the reasons for this is that operators had permits but no vehicle
at that point to link the operating license to and another reason is
the lack of capacity at operating licensing boards to process
applications prior to the deadlines. The number of semi legal
vehicles in the system amounts to 33 344.
KZN Court judgment
The KZN court judgment which ruled in favor of operators whoâs SLP/BLC
applications have not been considered by the OLB amounts to 7 699
vehicles categorized as semi-legalâs as confirmed by the KZN
Department of Transport in their Business Plan to the Department.
Since this ruling the Department has decided to include all provinces
into this process. The total number of vehicles for all provinces
amounts to 2Â 550.
(3) (a)As at the 15 March 2013 a total of 54Â 127old taxi vehicles
have been scrapped. The value of the scrapping allowance paid
is R2,955 016 20.00.
[pic]
(b)The Program will not be ending based on Cabinets approval to the
Funding Strategy, therefore operators will still be compensated a
scrapping allowance. The current value of the scrapping allowance
is R63Â 100. This value will increase annually in line with CPI.
(4) (a)Although Cabinet has approved an in increase in the timeframe
to the Program, the Department has realized that the
sustainability of the Program cannot be guaranteed since the
scrapping allowance is once off. The life span of the vehicles
is limited and will require continuous replacing. This could
inevitably lead us back to a time prior to the Taxi
Recapitalization Program.
Challenges such as vehicle quality and affordability and
illegal conversions, just to name a few, have also been reason,
for a dire need to review the Program in its current form.The
review will provide options to address the aim of the Program
whilst at the same time ensuring sustainability.
It will also focus on creating alignment and inclusion
into the Public Transport Strategy as well as the Transformation
Plan with the intention of providing an integrated affordable
public transport system that will focus on benefiting the
passenger.
(b)The future method of recapitalization of vehicles that have
not done so by the perceived end will be dependent on the
options derived from the review process as well as the status of
the Public Transport Transformation Plan.
Furthermore, taxis included in plans of integrated public
transport plans will be compensated through the negotiated
compensation packages in the various cities. This is what is
currently happening and will continue as cities roll out for
implementation.