Cosatu is appalled that an Austrian e-tolling company expects to make about R664 million a year from the Gauteng e-tolling system, the trade union federation said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“This makes the argument for tolls more and more untenable, and the argument for using taxation more and more obvious,” the Congress of SA Trade Unions said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“This is further evidence that e-tolls amount to the commodification of our highways — a business opportunity for a private company rather than a basic public service for the community.”<\/p>\n
Bloomberg reported that Kapsch TrafficCom AG (KTCG), the Austrian maker of toll-road systems, said it would get an annual revenue boost of “significantly more” than Euro 50 million (R664m) for eight years from the Gauteng project.<\/p>\n
Kapsch’s board member Andre Laux reportedly said.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) denied that money collected from e-tolling in Gauteng would go overseas.<\/p>\n
“This is simply not true,” spokesman Vusi Mona said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“What must also be made clear is that all tolls collected on GFIP [Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project] go to Sanral. ETC [Electronic Toll Collection joint venture] is paid for services rendered on a monthly basis, and the payment is strictly according to a bill of quantities as specified in the tender contract.”<\/p>\n
Mona said the dividends they declared could be paid to foreign companies only after income tax was paid in South Africa.<\/p>\n
Sanral awarded the e-tolling contract to the ETC because its tender was more than R2 billion lower than the next offer, he said.<\/p>\n
The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) expressed its shock at Kapsch TrafficCom’s announcement.<\/p>\n
“This is money that is being extracted directly from the pockets of hard-pressed citizens to improve the profits and wealth of overseas business,” chairman Wayne Duvenage said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“The figure Kapsch mentions is around 45 percent of the annual running costs for the e-tolling system quoted by Sanral and the South African Treasury, which depicts sizeable profits for an offshore company, paid for by the Gauteng road user.”<\/p>\n
Cosatu said it supported Outa’s call for the Public Protector or even a possible judicial commission of inquiry to probe the e-tolling deal.<\/p>\n
“This news will make workers more determined than ever to fight e-tolling and support the call for an efficient, safe, and affordable public transport system,” Cosatu said.<\/p>\n
Sanral: e-toll revenue taxed before going offshore<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n DA to fund Outa e-toll legal fees<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Outa running out of money<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n E-toll tariff reduction? Big whoop, says Outa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n