KwaZulu-Natal welcomes move to halt Sanral plans

Transport Minister Dipuo Peters has rubbished rumours that e-tolls will be introduced in KwaZulu-Natal. Image: GCIS

Even the KwaZulu-Natal government was taken by surprise by last week's announcement that e-tolls were to be introduced. But the department has ruled Sanral cannot introduce e-tolls in any part of the country without consulting with all stakeholders. The Democratic Alliance is to ask for a special debate at the next sitting of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.

Last week Logashri Sewnarain, Regional Manager of Sanral in KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, said it planned to introduce e-tolls in sections of the N3 Marianhill (near Durban) and N2 Oribi (Port Shepstone) toll plazas by November. She said more than 100,000 vehicles a day used the N3 and implementing an e-tolling system would improve traffic flow.

"The manual toll booths can process between 200 and 300 vehicles an hour whereas up to 700 vehicles an hour can pass through using e-tags," she said.

Sewnarain said motorists who did not want to wait in queues would have to get e-tags to pass through the e-tag sections of the toll plazas.

Two days later Transport Minister Dipuo Peters rubbished the announcement: "Any decision to introduce any form of tolling in any part of the country will be taken in consultation with authorities. I therefore wish to clarify reports that a decision has been taken to introduce electronic tolling in some parts of KwaZulu-Natal as untrue."

Ted Holden, of the Upper South Coast Anti-Toll Alliance, said the government had made a good decision in stopping Sanral when it was still involved in a messy affair with Gauteng motorists, who remain reluctant to pay.

"Sanral was trying to employ thin end of the wedge tactics to introduce e-tolls to KwaZulu-Natal. Many people were poised to resist and protest the implementation of the tolls," he said.

DA KwaZulu-Natal transport spokesman Moulana Rafick Shah said it was confusing that two government entities were saying different things on the matter of e-tolls.

In the next KwaZulu-Natal legislature sitting he would call for a debate about e-tolls, because many people in the province were totally against the e-tolling system.

"We are taking this action because we don't want to see the repeat of the shenanigans that happened in Gauteng," Shah said.

Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge