E-tolls debt balloons to R43 billion, but Outa says numbers not adding up

The cost of the controversial Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) has ballooned from R20 billion a decade ago to more than R43 billion because of loan interest and maintenance costs of R5 billion a year, Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi claims.

However, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), says the e-tolls numbers are “smoke and mirrors”.

It said the debt – 70% of which will be covered by national government and 30% by the province – needs to be probed, with “an in-depth look” into the financials of the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral), including how much was borrowed for GFIP and how Sanral allocated the grants received from Treasury over the years.

At a briefing on the e-tolls financing options yesterday, Lesufi said Treasury had indicated the Gauteng government had until the end of December to deal with this matter.

ALSO READ: E-tolls: Lesufi says R47 billion debt a ‘time bomb’ because citizens refused to pay

“Remember with the e-tolls, people said they were not consulted, so if there is a method or a way that will involve citizens paying or not paying, let’s consult and on the basis of that consultation we will have an answer,” he said.

“We have a debt of R47 billion. We have paid R26 billion in terms of interest and people are not paying. So what do we do? Do we fold our arms? The debt would be increasing day in and day out.

“Government now finds itself in a quagmire as the debt remains at R47 billion and we are on the verge of defaulting because people are not paying. And you need R5 billion to maintain the roads every year. Something must give.”

E-toll numbers ‘wrong’

Outa chief executive Wayne Duvenage said something was fundamentally wrong with Treasury’s statement that Sanral now had R43 billion debt relating to GFIP. He said Sanral court papers reflected in early 2012, with the GFIP construction virtually complete, the GFIP capital cost amounted to R20.63 billion.

“We also know Sanral’s liabilities in their 2012 financial statements reflect their capital market long-term bonds at R28.4 billion, and the total value of these bonds cannot all be attributed to GFIP.

“We also know, according to Sanral’s financial statements since 2012 through to 2022, National Treasury has allocated R22.4 billion to Sanral for the financial management of the GFIP debt,” Duvenage said.

“We believe that the numbers that are being presented by Treasury and Sanral are wrong. The GFIP debt is not R43 billion.”

With the next step looking at 30% of the debt and interest obligations of GFIP to fall on to the government of Gauteng, alongside the duty to pay for maintenance costs, Duvenage added it was important the Gauteng government and National Treasury did not allow themselves to become “hoodwinked” by these numbers provided to them by Sanral.

ALSO READ: Confusion over how much Gauteng must pay Sanral to settle e-toll debt

Lesufi said the options for financing the debt still had to be discussed by him, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula.

Lesufi noted he wanted to reject the notion that the 30% payment of Sanral debt will be taken from other budgets such as health, crime or education.

“Health and education will not suffer. They will actually get more money from our budget. You will see when we address our budget on 24th.”

– lungas@citizen.co.za