E-tolls possibly on the chopping block: report
Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi is due to discuss the viability of Sanral’s funding model with cabinet, following the continued resistance to e-tolls.
According to a report by BusinessDay, Maswanganyi has been forced into making a decision after Sanral CEO Skhumbuzo Macozoma conceded that resistance to e-tolls had brought Sanral to the brink of collapse, and has brought into question the agency’s going-concern status (whether it will remain in business for the foreseeable future).
Speaking at a portfolio committee on transport briefing on Tuesday, Macozoma said that the the road agency was re-evaluating its funding models for road development and maintenance, but that the final call would rest with the minister.
Maswanganyi would take up the discussion at cabinet level as a matter of urgency, with emphasis on the failure of the tolls, Macozoma said.
“The decision to continue or cancel e-tolls does not rest with us, as it is not an administrative matter. It is our principals that deal with it, so we have referred it to the minister,” Macozoma said.
“We want to affirm that being a schedule three [state-owned entity] … National Treasury is our [primary] … source of funding to function. There is also a role for private finance in the upgrading of our roads.”
Not paying
Sanral published its annual report for 2017 at the end of October, showing how much money the company expects to earn from tolling – and how much is expected to be lost due to non-payment of its controversial e-toll system.
Looking at e-tolls specifically, Sanral said that its material impairments amounted to R3.75 billion in the year, recognising the decrease in estimated future cash flows from trade and other receivables (ie, tolling). A total of R3.61 billion of this impairment relates to the impairment of e-toll debtors, it said.
The agency also came under fire for the irregular expenditure of R424.9 million that was incurred due to noncompliance with prescribed procurement processes.
Fruitless and wasteful expenditure to the amount of R15 million was incurred, due to additional costs incurred on a project that was cancelled as the approval process for the project had not been followed.
Read: Sanral reveals the staggering amount of money it expects to lose from e-tolls this year
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