The SA National Roads Agency's (Sanral's) financial woes are just another reason for the state-owned entity to abandon the controversial e-toll system.
This is the opinion of the Democratic Alliance (DA), and comes after numerous calls by chief opposition lobby group, the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa), for Sanral to scrap the system and introduce a fuel levy structure to pay for road maintenance.
The DA has also reiterated its call for president Jacob Zuma not to sign the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill, also known as the E-toll Bill. "If signed into law, the Bill will give Sanral carte blanche to erect tolls around the country, without public and Parliamentary consultation," says DA shadow minister of transport, Ian Ollis.
Yesterday, Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona confirmed that, as a result of repeated delays in the implementation of e-tolling, "Sanral has almost totally depleted its available cash... we're not able to fund ourselves any further, due to investors not feeling comfortable with our risk profile".
Ollis says, if Sanral were to abandon government's e-toll system, its risk profile would improve, encouraging investment. "Moreover, the total of SA's fuel levies over time would provide enough funding for Sanral to fulfil its mandate."
Escalating evidence
Evidence keeps stacking up against Sanral's e-toll plans, says Ollis, "proving it to be ill conceived and not in the public interest".
Ollis cites the failure of e-tolling in Portugal, studies showing the fuel levy provides adequate funding for construction and maintenance of SA's roads, and the city of Cape Town's successful interdict preventing Sanral from tolling Western Cape highways, as reasons why the system should be abandoned.
He says Sanral's good reputation for building quality roads is hanging in the balance because of the e-toll project, and that this is threatening the financial stability of the entity.
"The maintenance of SA's road network cannot be jeopardised because of Sanral's obsession with e-tolls."
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