Intelligent transport systems (ITS) : can the IDP afford them?

Abstract

Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 12 - 15 July 2004 "Getting recognition for the importance of transport", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. The emergence of the new dispensation in South Africa has elicited a changing role of Local Government, which is now the heart of the development process in South Africa. Integrated planning helps local government transcend its traditional service delivery functions (where in the past planning was focussed on the promotion of apartheid objectives of racially segregated spatial, social and economic development) to cope with its current requirement to play an active developmental role. As such, every municipality in South Africa is required to produce an Integrated Development Plan (IDP), which is the principal strategic instrument guiding all planning, management, investment, development and implementation decisions in the medium-term, taking into account input from all stakeholders. This strategy process imposed on municipalities is however not peculiar to South Africa and the principles of an IDP range from the provision of basic governance to the Tibetan Refugee Community of 130,000 (in settlements in India and Nepal) to a business plan for Johannesburg, whose 3,200,000 population contribute almost 16% to the national economy. Transport contributes to poverty reduction by enabling the productive activities that create effective economic growth, and by providing poor people with access to economic opportunities and social services, and a means of participating fully in society. Although much of the prosperity we have enjoyed in the 20th century can be attributed to roads and vehicles, transport related social issues such as an increasing number of traffic accidents, congestion, and other environmental problems are now plaguing most countries. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) apply a broad range of diverse technologies (including computers, information processing, communications, control, and electronics) to improve the effectiveness of transport systems and maximise the use of the existing road infrastructure. This paper investigates whether the operational objectives of transportation, and in particular ITS, have strategic significance in terms of the IDP prioritisation process which allocates annual municipal budgets.