Broadcast Type: Interview; Dr. Lebogang Makgati, a senior lecturer at North-West University with expertise in transport economics and logistics, is featured in the NWU Expert Talk series discussing the transformation of South Africa's transport sector.
as i mentioned today in w expert talk series continues in the second episode the focus is on transforming sa's transport sector yolanda maartens joined by dr lebogang makgati course senior of lecturer at north-west university expertise with special in transport economics and logistics management today i continue our series nwu expert talk series a of conversations with experts from w u the n these en depth conversations in a podcast also live series at o dot c o dot f m z a in second episode the our focus is on transforming south africa's transport sector i'm joined by dr olebogeng by khaku senior lecturer at north-west special university with expertise in transport economics and logistics management dr welcome to o f m thank very much and you thanks for having me morning good what are some of the biggest challenges facing south africa's transport infrastructure today and is it impacting how the economy at large south in africa our infrastructure really faces critical interconnected challenges such as the gremlin road networks pothole the ridden roads the severe congestion that caused is by lack of investment on infrastructure lack of maintenance or thereof in most cases find that will we used to have big airports for instance like the g mahikeng d montshiwa in we have pilanesberg in the other side in bojanala district in the north west as well these are just critical examples of our failure as government to maintain what we have where judgement so used to be called mahikeng international airport during the time of tatjana era and it was doing marvellous it was performing well but we left it to report to the core today the airport is not operational it can only accommodate small aircraft and you know as that is one big airport got which the second longest runway in south africa the sixth longest in africa so don't maintain if you such then it's a us problem to and that will affect the economy will increase it the logistics cost increase the transport cost it will damage the supply chain also limiting it's job access because that airport capable is of creating so many jobs and of lack maintenance can cause significant productivity losses businesses for that are operating dr olebogeng by joins us jackie today senior lecturer at north-west university and it's in our nwu expert talk series today dr how is the n contributing w u insights into transport economics risk management logistics and optimisation to support smarter planning for infrastructure you are aware that we are offering courses in transport and logistics and risk management think i that is the contribution do that we we at the north-west university and we support tomato infrastructure planning through research into the utilising logistics we bring in things like the of things internet optimising free trade and enhancing chain resilience supply we focus mainly on the public private partnerships we focus on data driven rousseff safety initiatives where we intend also to reduce environmental impact to drive the economic recovery of our nation further to that we we work hand we in glove with the the the key stakeholders such as the mahikeng local municipality shortly will be doing some traffic impact assessments studies for for the local municipality will start with mahikeng and then municipalities we go to other we have signed the mou regard in that so we'll be working together we work with also the north west department as of transport well as the national department in of transport ensuring that we are working together to develop some some research in the old thing and we we intend will be having engagement continuous with the department we have signed mou with the them so that we can together going work forward some u of the m l r on pipeline just waiting there legalities and approval to it's our second episode our nwu in expert talk series and i'm joined by dr olebogeng pataki senior extra at n w u the with special expertise economics and transport and logistics management you can find full conversation the online c at o f m dot o dot z a doctor thank so much for you your insight and time today thank you very much that was yolanda maartens talking to dr olebogeng magaqa lecturer of course senior at north-west university with special expertise transport in economics and logistics management to listen to