E-toll rates will increase on all Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) roads by almost five percent on 1 March as contained in the Government Gazette (#39695) issued on 15 February.
However, it was the Automobile Association (AA) which made motorists aware of these increases as the information did not appear on South African National Roads Agency Limited’s (Sanral) e-toll website. The AA said there was also no mention of any adjustments to the capped limit for tagged users in the Government Gazette.
But Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona said the Department of Transport had issued a gazette and that it was a public document, therefore, issuing one was an act of informing the public. “A statement was in the process of being drafted and has since been issued by the department of transport, as is customary every year when the toll tariffs are adjusted,” he said.
Some of the vocal opponents of the e-toll system, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Organisation Uniting against Tax Abuse (Outa), previously known as Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance, said the increase was unjust. “We are disgusted that Sanral and the Department of Transport have this attitude and approach of continuously applying mandatory annual increases to all toll plazas in its growing toll network, whilst the use and income generated by the various tolling contracts have serious questions, about which Outa is busy conducting intensive research and investigation,” said Outa chairman, Wayne Duvenage.
He said some of the major issues that Outa was looking into were toll concessionaire contracts – such as those along the N3 and N4, and N1 – could run for up to 30 years, yet the capital outlay for the initial construction of a toll road was a fixed capital cost.
“This means that the effective bond repayments on the tolled road decreases every year… However, in the case of Sanral’s conventional toll tariff structure, the toll fees keep increasing every year for the entire 30-year period, regardless of whether the capital amount has already been repaid, and far beyond the cost necessary to maintain the road,” said Duvenage.
“However, in the case of Sanral’s conventional toll tariff structure, the toll fees keep increasing every year for the entire 30-year period, regardless of whether the capital amount has already been repaid, and far beyond the cost necessary to maintain the road.”
He added that toll roads in South Africa have, therefore, become enormous tax-driven cash cows with guaranteed income for periods of up to 30 years for toll concessionaires and their connected companies.
DA Gauteng provincial leader, John Moodey, said Sanral’s decision to increase e-tolls would be the last straw to break consumers’ backs if the government did not take immediate action to prevent it.
“Predictions for the South African economy in 2016 are dire, and people are going to be faced with food and fuel increases as a result of the recent drought and weak rand. Increases in e-tolls, whether in line with inflation or not, will have a severe knock-on effect, further driving up costs,” Moodley said.
