Poor performance and the effect of diseases such as Aids are two major challenges facing the African transport industry, Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe said on Monday.
”It’s a matter of great concern that the poor performance of the transport system across all modes is imposing huge costs on business activity and consumers alike in South Africa,” he said in a speech read on his behalf at a transport conference in Pretoria.
On Aids, Radebe said the disease is a great concern to the long-distance trucking community. The recent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome also underlined how international travel has become a potential conduit for life-threatening diseases.
Many parts of Africa — as the continent’s transport routes are being opened up — are still infested with insect-borne diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.
Radebe said it is necessary to restructure the transport system generally, to make sure that logistics, or the lack thereof, do not act as a restraint on economic growth, employment and sustainable development.
A 2003 review of maritime transport found that the total freight costs in 2001, as a proportion of import value of goods for developing countries in Africa, was 12,65%.
This compared with an average of 8,7% for developing countries elsewhere in the world.
”Land-locked countries in Africa had to endure costs of some 20,69%, whilst the average cost of sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, was 13,84%,” Radebe said.
The report also found that non-distance related costs such as port tariffs and border post charges ranged between 12% and 40% of the total costs of inland transport.
Radebe said the cost of border-post delays to the Southern African Development Community region is estimated at $48-million annually.
”Clearly, something has to be done, and done fast, if the New Partnership for Africa’s Development has any chance of success,” he said. — Sapa