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New e-toll regime 'unworkable'

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 22 May 2015
It will take government some time to integrate the new e-toll regime into its systems.
It will take government some time to integrate the new e-toll regime into its systems.

Government's new e-toll dispensation is not workable because of the amount of technical integration involved and will not help the roads agency trim its debt profile, say commentators.

In a bid to encourage motorists to fork out for driving on Gauteng's freeways, deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday said government would drop the cost of tolls for all users to 30c a kilometre, and about half the monthly cap.

However, this concession comes with several caveats, with the most contentious being motorists will not be able to receive vehicle licence discs, even though they can still renew licences, if they do not settle their e-toll accounts. The lower e-toll fees have been slammed as being short-sighted because people will simply skirt the law, and have met with outrage from those who wanted the system scrapped.

Ramaphosa's announcement was met with indignation, and government's ability to implement the regime has been called into question. Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance chairman Wayne Duvenage says the new dispensation presents an "integration nightmare".

Technical impossibility

The Department of Transport's booklet on the new system also points to the integration challenges: "As this is a technology-dependent system, software changes and system reconfiguration will be needed and these require some time to complete."

Duvenage explains this is because people who have queried bills as being incorrect will be forced to stump up to get their vehicle licence discs at traffic departments and the South African Post Office, or illegally drive without a disc. This, he says, is because the South African National Roads Agency's (Sanral's) system will have to be integrated into payment points, which he notes will be a nightmare.

In addition, says Duvenage, there is the trouble brewing at Tasima, which is currently the custodian of the national vehicle database from which Sanral draws vehicle ownership information. The electronic National Administration Traffic Information System (eNatis) is in the process of being transferred from Tasima to the Department of Transport.

A legal dispute has led to fears the database could collapse, a concern the department has rubbished. In addition, says Duvenage, Sanral needs the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act to be effective nationwide so it can police unpaid e-tolls. That law will only come into effect next April.

Polluted database

Duvenage questions whether Aarto will "fly", pointing out the amount of polluted data on the eNatis database is a hindrance. Justice Project SA chairman Howard Dembovsky adds the outdated data on eNatis is the "big problem".

Dembovsky notes the illegal withholding of licence discs could results in motorists' vehicles being illegally impounded. This, he explains, is because traffic officers on the road do not have access to eNatis, and will not be able to confirm the cars are roadworthy, and licences are up to date, assuming eNatis is even correct.

Because of this issue, which Dembovsky says is of government's own making, "we are going to give them a really hard time". He says the Justice Project will fight the issue all the way up to the Constitutional Court if need be.

Dembovsky adds, for the system to work, Sanral would have to integrate its account setup with eNatis through a unified database that can read and write. "It's totally unworkable."

No debt solution

Duvenage says the new dispensation will not resolve Sanral's cash flow woes as it will continue to collect about R200 million less than it needs each month. He notes it was R3 billion behind its targets in the first 18 months.

Only about 20% of Gauteng e-way users are paying their bills, says Duvenage. He says the bulk of those who are not paying are not tagged.

Sanral's Gauteng e-toll debt is mounting at about R200 million a month, and Duvenage predicts it will be about R5 billion in the red by this December. In the first four months of the controversial e-highway system going live, the roads agency effectively wrote off R1.123 billion because the overdue amount was not recognised as the agency did not anticipate being able to collect it.

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