The likelihood of e-tolls going live this year is dim, despite reports citing the Department of Transport (DOT) as suggesting implementation of the system is imminent.
The parliamentary reply from transport minister Dipuo Peters - the source of reports suggesting the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) will roll out government's open road tolling scheme in Gauteng before the year is over - confuses issues, say observers.
Peters recently responded to a question regarding the commencement date for e-tolls from Freedom Front Plus spokesperson Anton Alberts, saying: "The Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) will still be implemented in 2013; however, the date for the commencement of the tolling has not been determined."
The GFIP - government's road network upgrade and maintenance project - officially started in 2007 and is an ongoing project. Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) chairperson Wayne Duvenage points out that the GFIP and e-tolling are two separate issues. "E-tolling was devised as a means of funding the GFIP, but the road maintenance project itself is an ongoing assignment."
As it stands, according to Sanral and the DOT, the commencement of e-tolling in Gauteng awaits one thing - president Jacob Zuma's signature on the Transport and Related Matters Amendment Bill (e-toll Bill).
Alberts points out that the Bill, which may be sent back to Parliament for a review of the Constitutional tagging process, is unlikely to see the light of day until next year when Parliament reopens for the new year.
"The parliamentary deadline to submit Bills for it to be completed by the end of this year had already lapsed on 7 June 2013. This means that [the e-toll Bill] will only be properly dealt with by the portfolio committee on transport next year."
Alberts adds that it takes a minimum of 15 weeks, without anything delaying the process, for a Section 76 Bill to pass through both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces and be sent to the president for his signature. "If one is to consider that the 2014 elections are due in the same period (April/May), the e-toll Bill could possibly only be completed by the second half of 2014 and then in addition to that, it will be dealt with by a new Parliament."
Democratic Alliance shadow minister of transport Ian Ollis says the e-toll Bill is a "dead duck". Ollis says all indications are that the Bill crucial to the implementation of e-tolls will not be signed by Zuma in the near future.
"There is a whole process that has to take place now, before the Bill can be signed. Rumour has it that the president is unhappy with the Bill - and if that is the case, he will have to formally give Parliament reasons for reviewing it. It's my view that the president is waiting until it is too late for us to fast-track amendments to the Bill and push it through so that e-tolling can begin."
Duvenage points out that Outa's appeal against e-tolling is another spanner in the works. "The court case could still change things. If the court rules in Outa's favour, e-tolling will not go ahead."
Outa's appeal against e-tolling will take place in the Supreme Court of Appeal next week.
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