Limpopo Leader - University of Limpopo

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Getting from A to B in SAWHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE?Imagine a frequent rail service speeding on widegaugetrack between Polokwane and Marble Hall.The route runs through some of the most denselypopulated parts of south-central Limpopo. A pictureemerges of a transportation system that willradically improve the developmental options forwell over a million people.The Bigger PicturetTHERE ARE BIG TRANSPORTATION PLANS FOR 21STCENTURY SOUTH AFRICA. First off, there’s NATMAP2050. This is the national transport master plan thatbegan in 2005 and is scheduled to run to the middleof the 21st century. Then there’s the Public TransportStrategy and Action Plan 2007 – 2020, the result ofextensive consultation with all stakeholders culminatingin the Transport Indaba held in Soweto in October2006 and approved by cabinet several months later.But what do these plans contain, and what are theimplications for Limpopo province? Polly Boshielo, theprovince’s general manager of public transport and agraduate of the Turfloop Postgraduate School ofLeadership’s MBA programme, provides some of theanswers.NATMAP 2050, she says, is concerned with examining,determining and crystallising the relationshipsbetween various areas (whether industrial, urban,agricultural, etc) in the country and the transportationrequirements emanating from area-specific needs.‘The interaction between land use in the variousareas and the evolution of an integrated transportationplan is a fundamental planning consideration,’Boshielo points out. ‘The way in which transportationmaster plan unfolds must facilitate sustainablesocio-economic growth and should help to promotecoherent and integrated development planning acrossthe country.’NATMAP 2050 will focus on major nationaltransportation networks and macro planning. To dothis effectively a central land-use and transportationdatabank will be maintained. A few of the principlesthat will guide the planning process are:• To offer a central transportation vision into whichprovinces can fit their own transportation plans.P A G E 8
Polly Boshielo, a senior transportation manager in Limpopowith an MBA from the University of Limpopo’s TurfloopPostgraduate School of Leadership• To make maximum use of existing transportationinfrastructure (roads and railways and airports)before developing new ones.• To gradually overhaul the country’s extensive railnetwork by shifting from the presently used 1067 mmCape railway gauge to 1435 mm gauge and theincremental introduction of high-speedrailway equipment and rolling stock.Slotting into the overarching master planning processis the shorter term Public Transport Strategy andAction Plan 2007 – 2020. The first phase of this planhas been designed to implement integrated rapidpublic transport networks (IRPTNs) in the 2010 WorldCup host cities, and hopefully in a few more places aswell. The second decade in the life of the plan willextend the IRPTNs to other cities and areas, which willultimately impact on half the total population of SouthAfrica.WHAT’S AN IRPTN?Boshielo points to the national documentation. It’s acentrally controlled transport network that incorporatesall modes of transport active in the network oftransport corridors. ‘Imagine a network,’ saysBoshielo, ‘where trains, buses and taxis all form partof a single co-ordinated whole, getting people fromA to B in the shortest possible time, and supported byappropriate pedestrian and cycling networks withfacilities like footpaths and bridges, and park-and-rideamenities for motorists linking into the rail and roadservices of any particular IRPTN.’Such transportation services would require whatBoshielo called ‘intermodal facilities’ where thevarious modes of transport – trains, buses, taxis, aswell as private modes of transport – could interact,thus speeding up the travel time for ordinary people.She said that seven areas in Limpopo had alreadybeen targeted for the development of intermodalfacilities at the heart of IRPTNs. They were Polokwane,Giyani, Jane Furse, Mikado, Thohoyandou, Northamand Burgersfort.According to the national documentation, IRPTNswill aim for high frequency services (say every fiveminutes in peak periods) and between 16-and 24-houroperations. Wheelchair passengers will be cateredfor; and the network will prioritise walking and cyclingand the use of public transport over private car travel.As an example of the transportation improvementsin the pipeline for Limpopo, Boshielo refers to the‘Moloto rail corridor initiative’ that is planned tooperate between Polokwane and Marble Hall 120 kmto the south. The route runs through some of the mostdensely populated parts of the old so-called homelandof Lebowa. Now add the advantage of 1435 mmgauge tracks for extra speed to a high-frequencyservice (as outlined above), and a picture emerges ofa transportation system that will radically improve thedevelopmental options for well over a millionpreviously under-served people. And there’s a roaddecongestion bonus into the bargain: currently morethan 500 buses work that particular route – vehicleswhich could be redeployed to provide feeder servicesthat penetrate deeper into the remoter rural areas.‘A specialist rail research company has alreadybeen appointed to undertake a preliminary study onthe Moloto corridor project,’ Boshielo says. ‘And thisis just one of the projects that will help to transformtransportation – and facilitate development – in ourprovince.’P A G E 9
Page 1 and 2: LIMPOPONUMBER 17AUTUMN 2009IeaderDI
Page 3 and 4: LETTERS TO THE EDITORA REQUEST FROM
Page 5 and 6: IN THIS ISSUEcover picture:A young
Page 7 and 8: The Bigger PictureThe original moti
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Page 23 and 24: Profile: Professor Errol HollandA C
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