Transport minister Sbu Ndebele said the government has planned a network of toll roads across the country in a bid to plug the multibillion-rand hole in its road maintenance bill.
Responding to a question in Parliament recently, Ndebele said the “user pay” principle would go a long way towards relieving the state’s R149-billion road maintenance shortfall, the Star reported on Monday.
“The ‘user pay’ principle is government policy, but is used selectively and only where feasible, and when, the benefits outweigh the cost to the road user,” he said.
The paper said last week the cost of operating Gauteng’s toll roads may be as high as R14-billion — more than the R6.22-billion the roads agency said it would cost.
This amount excludes the cost of feasibility studies, the design of the toll system and the supply of e-tags.
The cost of upgrading the roads is estimated at R17.5-billion.
The inflated operational costs were contained in a confidential report that was sent anonymously to the Star. The report is dated April 2011 and it discusses, in detail, the operation progress report on Gauteng open-road tolling.
The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) denied the tolls were costing so much and said the tender to build and operate the toll roads was R6.22-billion over eight years.
However, Sanral in its report indicated that the R6.22-billion did not include VAT and that there were additional costs — but would not reveal these specific amounts to the newspaper. — Sapa