No turning back on e-tolls

This is the first indication from the government with regard to the collection of tolls after it won an appeal in the Constitutional Court last week.

An inter-ministerial committee headed by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe met the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA) on Tuesday.

This was the first meeting about the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project.

Thabo Masebe, spokesman for Motlanthe, said the committee was not only talking to the alliance but was going back to all stakeholders.

"Regardless of the verdict, there has always been plans to go back to the different parties for another round of consultation," he said.

The user-pays system would have seen motorists paying tolls from April had the high court not granted OUTA an interim interdict to halt the e-tolling.

But after the Constitutional Court overturned that ruling last week, roads agency Sanral can now start tolling Gauteng's highways. But the government is still mum as to when this is likely to take place and how much it will cost motorists.

Masebe said "consultations should be done within a week" and the government would then announce a way forward.

However, the alliance plans to continue with a judicial review of e-tolling. The review is scheduled for late November.

Sanral needs the revenue to service a debt of about R20-billion, which it incurred to pay for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project.

The National Treasury is backing Sanral as it would be left to foot the bill if the roads agency fails to collect cash to pay for the upgrading.

The first consultations with stakeholders started in May.

Masebe said the most pressing issues were the cost to motorists as well as the perceived high cost of collecting the tolls.

OUTA chairman Wayne Duvenage said after the meeting with the committee, that it had found common ground on a number of "peripheral issues". He said the government "has made it clear that it still intends to toll the roads".

Talks with stakeholders have been continuing despite the court battle between Sanral, the Treasury and OUTA.

"At some stage you have to make a decision. There is a debt that has to be paid," Masebe said.

Source: The Times via I-Net Bridge