Chairperson of this honourable House; chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Transport, Ms Ruth Bhengu; hon members of the committee, Deputy Minister of Transport, Mr Jeremy Cronin; Director-General of Transport, Mr Mahlalela; Road and Transport MECs and heads of department from our provinces, transport; sector stakeholders present here today; members of the media; distinguished guests, it is a great honour and privilege for me to once again stand here to deliver to you another Budget Vote for the Department of Transport. The overall budget allocation for the Department of Transport for the 2012- 13 financial year totals R39 billion, growing to R48 billion in 2014-15. The bulk of this allocation goes to the following items: R10 billion is set aside for the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, Prasa, of which R5 billion goes into the acquisition of new rolling stock. An amount of R18 billion is allocated for roads, of which R8,8 billion is set aside for the SA National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, and another R8,7 billion for the S'hamba Sonke programme. A total of R10 billion is allocated to public transport, R5 billion of which goes to bus subsidies. The remaining R5 billion is earmarked for projects related to the bus rapid transit, BRT, system and the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme, TRP.
Over the past few years, the Department of Transport has embarked on a concerted effort to develop and improve South Africa's transport system to serve as a catalyst for socioeconomic development, particularly the movement of goods and people. Our efforts have seen a meteoric increase in the provision of a safe, reliable, efficient and affordable transport system. I should also acknowledge, however, that we still have a lot of work to do before we can safely say our people are living the transport dream. In his state of the nation address, President Jacob Zuma said:
The country's socioeconomic development can be improved and realised through a sustained, massive infrastructure development programme spearheaded by a developmental state in partnership with an active citizenry and private sector.
Through the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC, a 10-year project plan was developed and five-year priorities based on the following development principles were identified: balancing the development of new infrastructure with the maintenance of existing infrastructure; improving infrastructure links with rural and poor provinces; addressing capacity constraints and improving co-ordination and integration; and scaling up investment in infrastructure. Four key sectors have been identified as central to the envisaged development. These are transport, water and sanitation, energy and communication.
Six strategic infrastructure projects have been identified, namely unlocking the northern mineral belt, with the Waterberg as the catalyst; the Durban-Free-State-Gauteng logistics and industrial corridor; the south- eastern node and corridor development; unlocking the economic opportunities in the North West province; the Saldanha-Northern Cape development corridor; and integrated municipal infrastructure projects.
Whilst all these strategic infrastructure projects have transport as providing corridor linkages, the Durban-Johannesburg and North West are principally transport corridors. The PICC framework gives us a blueprint of transport projects over the next few years in the spheres of roads, rail and public transport infrastructure development and services. I therefore wish to take this opportunity to announce key transport projects to be rolled out over the next five years.
Projects in the Durban-Johannesburg corridor include the sale of Durban International Airport to Transnet for the establishment of a dig-out port; the development of Cato Ridge as a dry port; the planned extension of commuter rail to reach Pietermaritzburg; the development of Harrismith as a logistics hub; and the development of Gauteng logistics hubs, including Tambo Springs and Central Rand; and the improvement of City Deep.
We have emphasised the importance of getting the balance right between freight and passenger services. Indeed, there is no doubt that without freight logistics, the country would grind to a halt. The 2050 vision forms the backbone of South Africa's freight transportation network and is vital in facilitating economic growth for the country and the Southern African region. Its major objective is to deal with infrastructure and operational planning and investment, as well as demand-forecasting over a 50-year horizon.
The following are the project developmental components: the Port of Durban; the Durban-Gauteng road corridor; the Durban-Gauteng rail corridor, including high-speed rail; and logistics hubs and terminals within the corridor, as well as supportive local area land-use plans. Some of the other national projects include: national road infrastructure development projects; the acquisition of new rolling stock by Prasa; and the transformation of the public transport system.
Balanced investment in transport infrastructure will lead the country to efficient and sustainable growth, mobility and community access. We are now entering an interesting phase of transport integration, road-based logistics, ports, roads, aviation and rail, and the safety and security of transport services and infrastructure. We base all these plans on sophisticated intermodal planning, efficient intermodal transfer facilities and streamlined institutional and intergovernmental arrangements for implementation.
We are presenting our budget speech five days before the implementation of the first phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, GFIP. [Interjections.] South Africa is estimated to have about 9,7 million vehicles. About 2,5 million of these are said to be in Gauteng. Of these 2,5 million, only 800 000 travel regularly on the tolled road that accounts for 185km of South Africa's overall 750 000km of road network. The GFIP e- tolling project was premised only on this 800 000 vehicle population and not on all 9,7 million vehicles nationwide.
The fact is we cannot expect Mr Papiyana in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape to finance the construction or upgrading of a road regularly used by Mr Ponto in Johannesburg in the Gauteng province. We are therefore encouraged that, so far, 501 245 e-tags have been sold and distributed to regular users of this road network - a clear indication that people are co-operating with us ... [Interjections.] ... 501 000 out of 800 000. [Interjections.] We encourage those who have yet to purchase their e-tags to do so in order to be eligible for the discounted tariffs announced by government in February this year.
It is also important to note that some people who reside in Gauteng will still not be affected by the introduction of e-tolling. E-tolling, by the way, is electronic collection. That is all we are talking about.