Transportation
Liquid-fuel pipelines, power stations and key road connections make Mpumalanga an important part of South Africa’s communications and power network.
• British Airways announced a new service to Nelspruit in 2010.
Some of South Africa’s most strategically important infrastructure is located in Mpumalanga. This includes the liquid-petroleum pipeline being constructed from Maputo in Mozambique to Kendal via Nelspruit. Mpumalanga is home to 10 power stations with an 11th under construction.
The Maputo Development Corridor is one of Africa’s most advanced spatial development initiatives (SDI), comprising road and rail infrastructure, border posts, and port and terminal facilities. The corridor runs from just outside Pretoria in Gauteng, through Witbank, Middelburg and Nelspruit in Mpumalanga, and on to Maputo in Mozambique. The corridor has supported and promoted construction and infrastructure development in the province.
Infrastructure
National government pledged in April 2009 to keep up its support for infrastructural projects as a way of creating employment. The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) will channel R4.1-billion through provinces and municipalities between 2009 and 2012. Despite some down-scaling in response to the recession, national Minister of Public Works, Geoff Doidge, described the programme as ‘the biggest infrastructure development programme in the developing world’.
An example of this programme in action in Mpumalanga is in the grant of R59.8-million allocated to the provincial Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Administration. This money is to be spent on labourintensive methods in the construction of infrastructure that also contributes to rural development. A further R174-million is allocated as an incentive to the department to create jobs in the infrastructure sector.
The Mpumlanaga Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport received R17.9-million directed towards the same goal.
From the Provincial Treasury, the same department was allocated a budget of R3.3-billion in the 2010/11 financial year with portions of this devoted to road management, rehabilitation and improvement. Other amounts to be disbursed by the department include
• R5.5 million to reduce overloading on roads
• R354-million on scholar transport
• R100-million on coal haulage
• R397.3-million on public transport subsidies
• R158-million to purchase provincial government buildings
Overall the province receives about R18-billion from national government to boost employment through infrastructure spending.
Air
Mpumalanga’s air connections improved in the weeks leading up to the Soccer World Cup. British Airways announced that Comair would be flying between Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) and Johannesburg six times per week.
Middelburg Aerodrome is one of the larger alternate airports in the province, boasting a 1.9km runway. Many game lodges have airstrips and helipads. SA Red Cross Air Mercy Service operates out of the old Nelspruit airport just south of the city.
Rail
The Mpumalanga rail system generates more freight traffic than any other province in South Africa and is of great strategic and economic value. The main freight movements are coal, fuel, chemicals, timber, iron and chrome ore, fruit, maize, animal feed, wholesale and retail goods, steel, building supplies, fertiliser and consumer goods. The port of Maputo in Mozambique is closer to Mpumalanga than Durban, and there-fore provides a more attractive option for much of the freight coming out of the province. The coal terminal at Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal, however, does move the majority of the coal that is mined in the province.
Road
Companies in the road-maintenance and road-building sector are bullish about future prospects in all parts of South Africa. Roads take a heavy pounding in the parts of Mpumalanga that have the highest volumes of mining and industrial activity. Some mining firms seek to mitigate these effects but the fact remains that much rehabilitation is required.
The South African National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) announced in 2010 its intention to raise R12-billion as part of its plan to improve national roads.
In response to this trend, Stefanutti Stocks Earthworks has established an asphalt division that enables the company to make all kinds of road surfaces. Existing surface-milling and seal teams were busy in 2009 with an upgrade of the N17 between Bethal and Davel, while reconstruction work took place on the N2 from Piet Retief to Camden. The latter contract is for 24 months and will see 51 000 tons of modified asphalt being
laid and 555 000 square metres of double sealing being done.
The N4 highway runs east-west through the province and is the main arterial and backbone of the multinational Maputo Development Corridor Initiative. The R36 is a major north-south route, passing through Ermelo and connecting Mpumalanga with Limpopo in the north, via Middelburg, and KwaZulu-Natal in the south, via Volksrust. The N17 runs east out of Johannesburg to Bethal.
Transport groups experienced a good year in 2009 and the Transnet strike in May 2010 may persuade even more potential customers to switch from rail to road transport. Grindrod’s stock price rose more than 80% between December 2008 and December 2009. Imperial Holdings staged a remarkable recovery in the course of 2009, its share price rising more than 100% between March and November 2009.
Online resources
Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport: www.kmiairport.co.za
Mpumalanga Department of Public Works, Roads and
Transport: www.mpumalanga.gov.za
Railroad Association of South Africa: www.rra.co.za
South African Civil Aviation Authority: www.caa.co.za
South African National Roads Agency (Sanral): www.nra.co.za
