Five hundred more vehicles will be added to the country’s first mini-bus incentive programme when the eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA) launches the second phase of Moja Cruise during Transport Month in October. The roll-out of the second phase, which will bring the total number of vehicles to 1000, was approved during a Full Council meeting recently. In 2018, the ETA launched the pilot Moja Cruise programme. The project was to be rolled out over a three-year period with up to 6 000 vehicles. 

The branded Moja Cruise taxis have been installed with state-of-the-art tracking systems which was paid for by the Municipality. The trackers monitor bad driving including adhering to the speed limit and the use of driving controls such as brakes and change of gears. 

The aim of the programme, which is a partnership between the Municipality and eThekwini Management Taxi Council (EMTC), is to ensure a safe, secure and efficient customer oriented service. The programme motivates drivers to comply in order to qualify for financial incentives. Head of 

ETA Thami Manyathi said due to fiscus constraints and the impact of COVID-19 lockdown regulations, the rollout strategy was revised. “Moja Cruise taxis adhere to certain criteria to offer a clean, safe, efficient, customer-oriented service to the public. The vehicles are monitored to ensure that these criteria are met in order to qualify for the financial incentive,” he said. 

At the end of the pilot phase, the Moja Cruise project was strongly supported by operators and drivers, with confirmed desired benefits for the City. On that basis, there was good reason and support from all parties for the programme to move to full implementation.

Small, medium, and micro enterprise contractors were recognised for completing their NQF level 2 certificates. They were honoured by contractors for the GO!Durban C9 Work Package 2A who hosted a Women’s Day and Contracts Participation Goals (CPG) Mentorship Programme awards ceremony. The event was held at the Phoenix Construction site office.

This work package runs from Bridge City in KwaMashu to Gateway in uMhlanga. The contractors are Phoenix Highway JV, Raubex KZN, Makhathini, Dlamcon, Mumbo Consulting  and Nankhoo Consulting Engineers.

As part of the GO!Durban Empowerment Strategy, appointed contractors are required to provide mentorship and training to empower and develop local SMME contractors.

During the ceremony, residents working on the construction of the C9 route received NQF level 2 certificates for successfully completing courses. Most of the recipients were women. The modules included tendering procedures, construction activities, contract administration, construction supervision, business management, and close out reports.

Sizakele Ngema of the Thomanoc Trading expressed gratitude for the training. She will use her newly acquired skills to grow her business.

“The training has helped me a great deal to improve the way I run my company. I have learnt how to bid for tenders to grow my company.  When I started in construction as a woman, it was difficult learning the business. However, now things have improved. I have overcome challenges and am working well with my team,” she said.

The CPG Mentorship Programme started in 2020 with 11 local contractors to enhance their overall business. The training is ongoing and offers both classroom and on-site mentoring. 

The ceremony was attended by eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA) officials and ward 48 Councillor Michelle Lutchmen and ward 49 Councillor Tino Pillay.

ETA Deputy Head Bethuel Manthoadi congratulated the certificate recipients and stressed the importance of skills development.

“I am excited to see so many women who have completed the programme. However, it does not stop here, I encourage you to continue to develop yourself.”

ETA Deputy Head Bethuel Manthoadi

The City’s Transport Authority scooped an award and two commendation certificates for two projects at the prestigious Fulton Awards gala function held in Johannesburg on Friday, 10 June. 

The Fulton Awards are hosted every two years, a celebration of the Southern African concrete construction industry to recognise and honour excellence in the design, use and innovation in concrete.

The EThekwini Transport Authority (ETA) brought home an award for the infrastructure of under R100 million category for the Umhlatuzana River Bridge Modification and two commendation certificates for Essex Terrace / M13 Bridge Modification for the categories: infrastructure of under R100 million and innovation and invention in concrete. 

For the Umhlatuzana River Bridge project, the judges applauded the team for, “the unique solution that overcame extensive challenges to save a large part of the bridge while causing limited damage to the existing habitat”. The road bridge (links Seaward Road in Clairwood with Sarnia in Pinetown) was severely damaged during the 2019 KwaZulu Natal floods. 

The Essex Terrace / M13 Bridge infrastructure improvement project was triggered by the significant urban development in the neighbourhood which necessitated additional lane capacity through the surrounding interchange. 

In their citation the judges indicated that, “This project used several experimental solutions to support a design rationale that directly addressed sustainability concerns. It also involved some boldly progressive and effective responses to the aesthetic challenges associated with modification of an existing structure”. 

Head of ETA, Thami Manyathi said, “We are thrilled with the accolades awarded to our team. Winning awards of such caliber is testimony that we have some of the best engineering experts in our team. So much creativity and technical thinking goes into coming up with the best engineering solutions for projects of this nature. It is delightful that their hard work is recognized and honoured”. 

An exciting addition was the announcement of the 2022 winners of the Fulton Awards being entered in the American Concrete Institute’s Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards, as the projects compare favorably world class projects. The annual awards gala, with announcement of winners, will be held in Dallas, Texas, on Monday, October 24, 2022.

eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA) along with other City departments tapped into the Operation Good Hope initiative, focused on the cleanliness of taxi rank facilities to improve the service offering by the taxi industry and service attractiveness for the commuters. The campaign runs from 7– 11 March.

Operation Good Hope is an ongoing programme that was initiated to address backlog and service delivery issues, particularly in CBDs, secondary CBDs, and townships around the City.

Coordinated by Area Based Management Unit (ABM), the clean-up team includes, ETA, South African National Taxi Association (SANTACO), Durban Solid Waste (DSW), Electricity Department, Parks and Recreation, Roads and Stormwater and Metro Police joined hands and dedicated two days of the Pinetown operation to cleaning Taxi ranks.

With a key focus of ensuring cleanliness of taxi ranks, clean-up operations included, unblocking storm water drains, high pressure cleaning, litter picking, street sweeping, cleaning of ablution and weed removal. Additionally, municipal by-law compliance checks were conducted with traders operating in taxi ranks.

ETA Head, Thami Manyathi said the joint venture with Operation Good Hope came about after engagements with SANTACO aimed at addressing public transport issues. “After an in-depth inspection between our officials and SANTACO assessing challenges faced by taxi operators and commuters this clean-up operation was one of our responses. The clean-up is in addition to the standard continuous cleaning conducted by the ETA.

This is not a first for ETA, we conducted a clean-up operation in Pinetown late last year and we envisage to do more to ensure safe and clean spaces for our commuters. Furthermore, in an effort of creating an improved overall public transport system and responding to the needs on the ground, we are adjusting our public transport plan to ensure that challenges raised by our stakeholders are addressed,” said Manyathi. SANTACO’s Durban West Region representative Petros Shezi said, “We are pleased that the City is addressing our needs on the ground by keeping the rank facilities clean. Feedback from our commuters has been positive and their experience has improved. We hope to continue working together with the municipality in improving our public transport. We also urge our commuters to do their bit and keep the facilities clean”.