Sanral breaks silence on e-toll hearing
The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) has broken its silence on the e-toll review process, saying that a fuel levy would not have given it flexibility to favour poorer communities through exemptions.
Sanral was asked to comment on the original socio-economic objectives of e-tolls by the advisory panel looking at the system earlier this week, but spokesman Vusi Mona said the agency would not be making representations to the panel.
Sanral said that all documents regarding the whole process around the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project are publicly available should the Gauteng provincial panel reviewing the e-tolls wish to peruse them.
“The roads agency is of the opinion that its participation in the review process would be inappropriate as the matter had been decided in relevant structures – the Cabinet approved the matter in 2007,” it said in a statement on Thursday (4 September 2014).
“Furthermore, the Minister of Transport stated as recently as the 15th of July in her Budget Vote speech that there is no review of “neither policy nor the legislation governing urban tolling or any other tolling” that has been undertaken by government,” the road agency said.
“Until the agency is advised otherwise by national government, it will carry on implementing what is government policy,” it said.
“The fact that we have exempted public transport – including taxis that are registered – from all toll fees, demonstrates our concerns about the rising cost of living among the poor, who predominantly use public transport,” said Mona.
Sanral pointed out that open-road tolling was only introduced after comprehensive studies by respected economists pointed to the cumulative negative impact of traffic congestion on economic activity.
It said that a clear case was made to improve the quality of the highway network in the province and to address the high impact of congestion, wasted fuel, travel times, and productivity.
“We took a long term perspective and also considered the consequences for the economy and its ability to create jobs and growth opportunities should the road infrastructure not have been addressed,” said Mona.
Following a process of consultation – which has since passed the scrutiny of the courts after legal actions brought by opponents – a considered decision was taken to fund the construction of the improved highway through open-road tolling, Sanral said.
“Among the reasons why this specific method of funding was chosen is that it provides options that favour poorer communities through exemptions, special discounts, and flexible tariffs.”
“A blanket increase in the fuel levy, as favoured by Cosatu and other opponents such as Outa and the Democratic Alliance, would not have provided Sanral with this flexibility,” Sanral said.
Sanral implements government policy, Mona said, and any change or review of policy is a political process that the agency will not enter.
More on Sanral and e-tolls
E-tolls falling far short of its intentions: Outa
The reality facing e-toll non-payers
E-tolls toxic to small business growth
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