Friends and guests who are visiting us from other parts of the country, the continent and the rest of the world,
All Intelligent Transport Systems Associations represented at this conference,
All Dignitaries who are part of this Conference,
I want to greet and welcome you all on behalf of the City of Cape Town and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape. It is an honour and a privilege for us to host a conference as important as the one which starts here today. I must congratulate the Board of the South African Society of Intelligent Transport Systems and the Conference Organisers for having selected our beautiful City and Province as the venue of the Conference. I hope that after the business of the Conference is concluded, all of you will take advantage of being in one of the most spectacularly beautiful parts in the world to do a bit of site seeing, visit some of the historical sites here, sample our wines and food, dance to the rhythm of our music, and enjoy the warmth of our people.
But before we can indulge in all of that site seeing, sampling and dancing, there is a serious matter of the business of this Conference, which has brought all of us here together, which we have to deal with. I have been told that we have delegates in this Conference who come from as far afield as Argentina, Australia, Chile, Croatia, France, India, Iran, Japan, Malawi, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, the UK and the USA. All of us have been driven to come here by a common desire and passion to find innovative solutions to developmental challenges facing many communities across the globe, especially those in developing countries.
The question which we have to ask ourselves, through exchanges in this Conference and beyond, is “How do we, as a Transport Sector enable communities to deal with the challenges of sluggish economies.
- How do we help them deal with the challenges of extreme poverty, joblessness and hunger?
- How do we address the challenge of access to basic needs?
- How do we enable them to deal with the challenge and implications of being part of a global village?
In short, what we have to ask ourselves is “How do we contribute towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals?”. There are eight of these goals, and all 191 United Nations member states have pledged to meet them by year 2015. These goals include:
- The eradication of extreme poverty and hunger.
- The achievement of universal primary education.
Promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women. - Reduction of child mortality.
- Improvement of maternal health.
- Combating of HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
- Ensuring environmental sustainability.
- Developing a global partnership for development.
It is quite clear to me that as a sector, we can and must play a significant role in the realisation of these goals. Through its role in stimulating and supporting economic development and growth, the transport sector can contribute toward the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health and developing a global partnership of development.
By providing access to basic services, especially schools, clinics and hospitals, the transport sector can contribute toward the achievement of universal primary education, reduction of child mortality and improvement of maternal health. Through the choice of appropriate technologies and solutions, promotion of integrated planning, and promotion of public transport, non-motorised transport and other strategies aimed at reducing usage of private vehicles, the transport sector can contribute to environmental sustainability.
There can thus be no excuse if we fail to contribute toward the achievement of this noble program. This conference provides us with a unique opportunity for the development of a global partnership for development. The public and private sector players gathered here can go a long way in creating such a partnership by making available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technologies, in properly structured development programs. Through the sharing of ideas and lessons learnt, an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Agenda for the achievement of the Millennium development Goals can begin to emerge.
While we are looking forward to hearing and learning about ITS programmes in other parts of the world, we are also keen to share information on our own programmes here in South Africa. A number of Provincial Governments, major metropolitan areas and the National Department of Transport are involved in developing and implementing ITS solutions as part of realising the National Vision to ensure that “by 2020, transport in South Africa will meet the needs of freight and passenger customers for accessible, affordable, safe, frequent, high quality, reliable, efficient and seamless transport operations and infrastructure”.
This we need to do in a “constantly improving, innovative, flexible, and economically and environmentally sustainable manner.” This vision has to be achieved as part of our Nation’s efforts to deal with the legacy created by the Apartheid government, improve the quality of life of all our People, and build the future for the generations yet to come.
The legacy we have inherited subjected many communities to humiliating dehumanising racial divisions and denial of fundamental human rights. It has also resulted in spatial outcomes which saw poor people located the furthest away from economic and recreational opportunities, and thus relying on transport to access these opportunities.
As our contribution, the City of Cape Town and ourselves are embarking on a public transport improvement programme which will see:
- Establishment of activity corridors to encourage economic development along public transport routes.
- Integration of all modes of public transport to provide an affordable and seamless service to all our citizens.
- Introduction of an electronic fare collection system by a back office.
- Introduction of tendered and negotiated contracts.
- Promotion of non-motorised transport and provision of dignified urban spaces, and
- Monitoring of public transport operations based on a Global Position System (GPS).
The success of this program will depend to a large degree ofn the application of ITS solutions. It is important that we should succeed with this programme, because our ability to host the World Cup 2010 will depend on a well-functioning public transport system in addition to the improvements to public transport, traffic management to optimally utilise the available road capacity will be important. The City, South African National Roads Agency and ourselves are putting together an ITS solution for this.
Other ITS initiatives which we are driving in the Province include:
- The Huguenot toll tunnel control system which uses advanced imaging processing systems to detect incidents.
- Chapman’s Peak Drive which has an advanced environmental Monitoring System supported by CCTV.
- Adaptive area-wide traffic management system which is operated by the City of Cape Town, and which I am told is the largest in the country.
- Fleet Management and vehicle tracking system which our Government Motor Transport section utilises to manage the government fleet and give support in the deployment of emergency services.
I hope you will get to hear more about these initiatives, and others being pursued in other parts of the country in the course of the Conference.
Programme Director, in conclusion I want to thank the Board of the South African Society of Intelligent Transport Systems for having invited me to give this opening address. It is indeed an honour. I want to again congratulate the Board on its inspired choice of this beautiful City and Province as a venue of the Conference, and hope that the setting will inspire innovative and creative discussions. I wish all our visitors a wonderful stay here, and hope that when they leave they will be:
Inspired by the beauty of our Country, and warmth and passion of our People.
Energised by the exchange of ideas, the challenges we face as a transport sector, and the knowledge that they have partners across the globe they can call on to address the challenges.
I hope that by the time the delegates leave this Conference they would have formed long-lasting relationships.
I hereby declare this Conference open.
