The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) has welcomed a weekend report indicating government's widely rejected e-toll project is being reconsidered, but says clarity is needed.
Citing Gauteng transport MEC Ismail Vadi, The Sunday Independent reported the Gauteng government was taking a second look at the open road tolling system, which went live on 3 December. "We have had long discussions in the ANC Gauteng and in government. Phase one is done and we are working towards settling the debt. There is still dissatisfaction with the funding model. We are taking a second look at the matter."
Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage says the alliance welcomes recent media statements and suggestions by Vadi on a "rethink" of the future of e-tolls, but has called for clarity on the statement. "[The statement] appears to have shed more confusion on the matter."
Levy disagreement
Outa notes that in The Sunday Independent, Vadi suggests e-tolls should be replaced by more efficient user pays mechanisms, such as a "regional fuel levy, a provincial tax or shadow tolling".
Outa has long been at loggerheads with the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) over the notion of a fuel levy to fund the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), which e-tolls was conceived to fund.
Sanral maintains a fuel levy is untenable and unfair. In September last year, the roads agency placed advertisements in national newspapers claiming a fuel levy is "just not sustainable".
In response to Vadi's latest assertion, Outa says it "largely agrees" as each of these alternatives attract virtually zero administration costs and have high, if not 100% compliance levels. "The e-toll scheme, on the other hand, comes at a huge administration cost (over R1.3 billion per year) and will never achieve high compliance."
Equitable solution
Duvenage says while it is unclear as to what Vadi's statements mean at this stage, "if indeed the scheme is questionable and regarded as ineffective, then it goes without saying that the entire scheme should be set aside until a more efficient and equitable solution is found and not just for future road upgrade plans".
The Sunday Independent cites Vadi as saying government would not scrap the e-toll system, as it still considers it "important infrastructure". Vadi yesterday refuted reports that the existing e-toll system would be scrapped. He told The New Age that alternative funding models for future highway projects were being looked at.
In September 2012, then transport minister Ben Martins said he would consider the institution of a fuel levy as an alternative to e-tolling, but there were a number of arguments against this and e-tolling was at the end of the day deemed a better alternative.
National Treasury previously said a provincial fuel levy would be a costly exercise in terms of collecting levies from fuel stations.
GFIP project manager Alex van Niekerk previously compared SA to the US, saying the latter had always funded its roads through a dedicated fuel levy and was unable to keep up. "Where we have a R149 billion maintenance backlog, they have on their interstate a backlog of about $2 trillion."
Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona points out that the funding model for roads does not lie within the purview of the roads agency. "We investigate multiple funding options, but the decision ultimately lies with institutions such as the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission, National Treasury and other relevant government departments both at project approval and implementation stages."
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