Chair, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, hon MEC, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. It should be clear to this House that there is something innately wrong with the transport policy. The policy is premised on the belief that oil supplies are constant, that demand is level and that climate change is not playing a factor. No mention is made anywhere of peak oil. The department is silent on single-passenger cars causing a gridlock on our roads leading in and out of the cities. The fact that our mode of transport has the biggest impact on our environment seems to be inconsequential.
Who can argue the fact that motorised vehicles are the largest emitters of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and therefore the largest contributors of the process of climate change? It is estimated that 160 000 people are dying of climate change each year. Models developed by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change show that climate change will threaten health, particularly in the low-income population and predominantly in tropical and subtropical countries. This means we are first in the line of fire. Heat-related deaths and illnesses, epidemics of infectious diseases after storms and floods and the displacement of population have been forecast. Overall crop yields are predicted to decrease as temperatures rise, and food prices will rise rapidly.
That is just one part of the problem. Fuel prices are rising again. Last year, it rose to R10,00 a litre. Where will fuel prices be in two or three years from now? The increasing demand and the falling supplies, especially of light crude oil, will intensify the pressure on prices. But then what about the pressure on our foreign exchange? What if everybody chose to travel to work in a single car? An individual might afford the cost of fuel, but what about the economy?
Our people have to travel long distances everyday. This has taken a toll on their health, as well as on their pockets. It is one thing when taxi drivers protest. It will be a different thing if the daily commuters begin to protest. That time is very close. If we don't have any answers, we will have big problems. The season of protests is here. The bus rapid transit system, BRT, still has to get off the ground. The park-and ride system is only being tested on a small scale at this moment. At the rate which our government has been going, it will be overtaken by circumstances beyond our control.
I would like to ask the Minister to come back to this House with new, revised and forward-looking plans that will allow transport to be sustainable and affordable far into the future. Peak oil is here; climate change is here; escalation in the price of fuel is here and pressure on our foreign exchange is here. None of these will be reversed any time soon, and some will never be reversed, ever.