As part of her 2010 October Transport Month Programme, the Eastern Cape MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison, Ghishma Barry, will officially open the Makana sidewalks and Junior Traffic Training Centre on Monday 25 October at the Noluthando Community Hall at 9am.
As part of her 2010 October Transport Month Programme, the Eastern Cape MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison, Ghishma Barry, will officially open the Makana sidewalks and Junior Traffic Training Centre on Monday 25 October at the Noluthando Community Hall at 9am.
The pavements fall under the Quick Wins project, together with the robots and street lights at the corner of Raglan and Albert Roads. The lights were launched in April and the robots in May.
Ncedo Kumbaca, Director of Communications at the Eastern Cape Department of Transport, said the objective of the paving project was to move pedestrians off the roads so that fatalities and incidents can be minimised, as well as creating employment and transfer skills to the community of Joza through following the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) principles to ensure maximum beneficiation of the community from the project.
A total of 51 people were employed to work on this project for a period of 13 months, 30 were given Construction Education and Training Authority accredited training on kerb laying, base layer preparation and premix surfacing, 10 on landscaping and 20 on block paving.
The group included 24 youths and 19 women. While MEC Barry is in town, she will also launch the Grahamstown Junior Traffic Training Centre on the same day. Having visited and verified primary schools in Makana Municipality, the department has trained local primary school learners.
The centre, also known as a miniature training centre, is build to be an all access area, which are not only meant to educate children on how to safely cross roads, but to provide them with the insight on how to make use of other service delivery places including clinics and post offices.
The centres are targeted at children between the ages of eight to nine years and is seen as a way of addressing limitations of learners with regard to safe participation and hopefully reduce serious casualties from road crashes.
Their aim is to impart the acquisition of knowledge pertaining to the following: Safe pedestrian behavior, traffic safety rules, traffic signs, road markings, pedestrians and driver skills and a positive attitude in road usage.
