Road agency Sanral has hit back at claims by civil action group Outa that almost three quarters of e-toll funds collected are going into the hands of Austria’s Kapsch Trafficom.<\/p>\n
Transport minister Joe Maswanganyi last week revealed that Sanral has collected R2.9 billion in e-toll fees since the system\u2019s inception in December 2013.<\/p>\n
Outa on Monday said that its calculations showed that the Austrian-owned toll collection company, ETC, has pocketed R2.2 billion of that \u2013 74%.<\/p>\n
However, Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona has rubbished the claims.<\/p>\n
According to Mona, ETC is a “South African company”, with all its operations, employees and service providers operating within the country’s borders.<\/p>\n
“All operational costs are paid within South Africa; costs such as employee costs, administration costs, communication costs, banking fees, facilities, rates and taxes. All these are paid in the country to local service providers,\u201d Mona said.<\/p>\n
Only if there was a profit, would any money filter off-shore, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
In August 2016, the Austrian road group behind South Africa\u2019s e-toll build, Kapsch Trafficom, reported that it gained full control of Electronic Toll Collection (ETC)<\/a><\/strong> by buying out the local group TMT, who partnered with Kapsch.<\/p>\n Mona said that ETC does not get a percentage of the money received as Outa had calculated, but rather gets paid a fixed fee in terms of its contract with Sanral.<\/p>\n “Outa\u2019s current campaign is based on encouraging road users to break the law. This is unlawful and Sanral is confident that the current matters before the courts will find this to be the case. Road users follow Outa\u2019s advice at their peril,” Mona said.<\/p>\n Sanral said that, despite disagreements around e-tolls, their implementation has benefited all who use the roads in Gauteng.<\/p>\n However, since there is now insufficient funding available, the next phases of the project are unlikely to go ahead, with the agency warning that the current roads are starting to hit their capacity once again.<\/p>\n
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