This is what Gordhan said about e-tolls – and it’s not good news
Treasury said that if government does not proceed with tolling to fund major freeways in South Africa, ‘difficult trade-offs will need to be confronted to avoid a deterioration in the national road network’.
The Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) released this week, noted that fiscal exposure to South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) debt stood at R35 billion as at 31 March 2016.
It said that the guarantee was put in place to support the expansion of the agency’s toll roads portfolio.
“The new tolling dispensation has been implemented for phase 1 of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project. A 60% discount was offered to road users between November 2015 and May 2016 on the settlement of the outstanding amounts.
“E-toll collections and auctions are still closely monitored against projected collection levels to ensure recovery. Over the medium term, national government and the Gauteng provincial government will supplement e-toll revenue,” the Treasury said.
“More generally, if government does not proceed with tolling to fund major freeways, difficult trade-offs will need to be confronted to avoid a deterioration in the national road network,” it said.
Sanral said it welcomed what it deemed a measured budget statement. “In these tough economic times, it was heartening to see government’s unequivocal commitment to infrastructure spending, support for a number of SANRAL projects and, most importantly, the principle of tolling,” said Dumisani Maluleke, deputy CFO at the roads agency.
“Importantly, what was not said is that the e-tolls project has been cancelled, Sanral said.
“This is something which our country simply cannot afford. The reality is that to put an end to the project now will not only cost hundreds of jobs, but will also mean that the fiscal exposure, which stood at R35 billion at the end of March 2016, will be brought to bear on an economy that is under severe pressure,” said Maluleke.
Sanral’s statement comes after the e-toll system was again criticized this week, by leading ANC members, who said that the tolling system had cost the party votes in the recent elections, and Cosatu, which said: “government must accept that e-tolls have been rejected, are dead and end them once and for all”.
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