Despite the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) battling to repay R20-billion capital costs for the erection of e-toll gantries around Gauteng highways, the company paid R225 million to Swedish and Austrian companies for e-tags.
In a written parliamentary response to DA’s Christine Hunsinger, Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi revealed Kapsch Trafficom AB from Sweden received just more than R167 million.
Q-Free ASA, from Austria, was paid almost R58 million for similar services. Maswanganyi said: “The e-tags were procured in batches with demand in terms of e-toll registration for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project [GFIP], and for the conventional toll plazas countrywide.”
A further R372 million was paid towards printing of invoices and posting of e-toll collections, according to an Independent Media report this morning..
The Citizen is awaiting a response from Sanral and the ministry of transport on how the tender was awarded and if there was no local capacity to produce e-tags in the country.
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
