Sanral’s chief financial officer Inge Mulder said, “At the end of February, we managed to collect only 62 percent of our forecast e-toll revenue for the financial year, resulting in an e-toll shortfall of R588 million.”
Mulder admitted in previous media reports that the agency had requested the National Treasury to increase the level of debt it is allowed to carry as e-toll collections continue on a downward trend.
She said, “It is correct, we are engaging [the] National Treasury on a continuous basis to keep them informed of our cash flow status and borrowing requirements.”
In other reports it was mentioned that Sanral finances may remain constrained, as bond auctions don’t deliver the desired results. It was reported that Sanral’s latest bond auction saw only one participating bidder, down from 11 a year ago. In her response, Mulder said it was true Sanral that is reliant on bond auctions to fund their cash requirements.
When revenue or e-toll collections decline, it means the agency has to borrow more on their bonds at the auctions to ensure it’s able to service its debt, as well as pay for operations and maintenance of the toll roads.
“We initially hoped to collect R300 million per month from e-tolls once collections stabilised, [this] before concessions were made on tariffs and a monthly cap was introduced in an effort to mitigate the consumer resistance against the system,” she said.
However, Mulder revealed that e-toll compliance levels are currently very low. She said the current funding issue is only in relation to their toll portfolio, and ‘hopefully’ only an issue until the process led by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has been finalised.
Asked about whether the agency was facing a cash flow crisis at the moment, Mulder was quick to say, “No, we are not. Sanral runs two portfolios – toll and non-toll. Remember, only 15 percent of Sanral’s network is tolled. In the toll portfolio we have sufficient liquidity to sustain our cash flow requirements until the final decision or announcement is made by the deputy president, who is also aware of Sanral’s financial and cash status.”
