Sanral assures public it’s not facing a ‘fiscal cliff’ and can handle its mandate

The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) has assured the public it not only has the money and capacity to fix South Africa’s road network but it also has a good working relationship with its sole shareholder: government.

Sanral ‘unable’ to carry out its mandate

A damning article by BusinessTech reported that the parastatal in charge of road maintenance “could no longer expand the roads under its purview nor fully address the growing backlog of maintenance required to bring them up to standard”.

The report further alleged that government had strong armed Sanral into absorbing some of the most neglected provincial roads into its portfolio.

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Sanral currently manages just under 23 500km of roads, with provinces responsible for 271 500km. Metros are responsible for 66 150km, and municipalities cover 256 900km.

The report states national government plans to transfer about 15 000km of roads under provincial and local governments – rapidly deteriorating due to a lack of maintenance – to the Sanral portfolio.

But Sanral is also dealing with a massive hole in finances, having been badly burnt by its experience of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), which resulted in the protracted e-toll saga (which is still not concluded).

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Sanral: ‘Report is naughty and mischievous’

“Although Sanral is quoted extensively in the article, it is notable that no specific name of the person BusinessTech purportedly spoke to is mentioned,” said Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona.

“It is also curious that the article’s writer is not mentioned by name. The concealment of the identities of this duo leads us to believe that the intention of the article is naughty and mischievous,” Mona added.

Mona accused the publication of pitting the roads network parastatal against its executive authority: the Department of Transport, and government in general.

“Sanral is not a republic of its own but takes its mandate from government via the Department of Transport. Any attempt – such as is the trajectory of this article – to define the roads agency outside government’s efforts to develop road infrastructure in the country in general is not only mischievous but disingenuous and devious.”

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“Although Sanral’s core mandate is to plan, design, build and maintain national roads, the law explicitly permits the roads agency, through national government, which is its sole shareholder, to assist provinces and municipalities where the need for that assistance has been identified.”

While confirming that a number of provincial roads had been and continue to be incorporated into the Sanral network, Mona insists this is done “in the best interest of South African society and the country’s economy”.

Sanral was recently directed to assist the government’s mandate to provide quality road infrastructure in the Vala Zonke project. The roads agency was asked to coordinate the national effort to deal with potholes across all spheres of government.

“Any suggestion that this and other interventions by Sanral in support of government are carried out under duress or reluctantly is devoid of the truth and is malicious in intention.”

Mona denied reports that Sanral had hit a “fiscal cliff”, adding that funding was discussed with National Treasury and the Transport Department, and not through the media.

“For the record, government has, over the past medium-term expenditure framework increased its investment in Sanral and the national road network. Accordingly, Sanral does not face any fiscal cliff as sensationally alleged in the article.

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