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Sanral tolls policy 'as transparent as a brick'

Cape Town - A panel to review e-tolls is welcome, but what is really needed is a much broader inquiry into the way the “user pays” principle has been applied, according to Peter Hugo, chair of the transport portfolio committee of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Such a broader inquiry must look at how toll fees are used and whether there is any justification to continue to charge increasing toll fees long after a toll road has been paid for.

"These matters deserve urgent attention, because tolling policy is about as transparent as a brick," said Hugo.

In the Western Cape the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral), has gone to court in a bid to prevent the release to the public of information on how much it will cost to convert the N1 and N2 into toll roads, the operating costs, the proposed toll fees and how those fees will be used.

"The City of Cape Town has already obtained this information and Sanral wants it kept from the provincial authorities and the two affected municipalities of Theewaterskloof and the Breede Valley as well as the public," said Hugo.

Sanral gave “commercial confidentially” as reason, something Hugo regards as "nonsense".

"Sanral has no competition and any capital projects undertaken by a state agency must surely go out on public tender?" asked Hugo.

"We suspect Sanral does not want the public to know just how profitable toll roads can be and how the 'user pays' principle is abused."

Evidence in support

The concept of toll roads was brought to South Africa with the best intentions and, according to Hugo, in the early days, they certainly made sense.

One of the first was the Tsitsikama toll road in the Eastern Cape where the problem was two mountain passes that were expensive to maintain and quite unsuitable for the heavy trucks.

The solution was to build massive bridges which spanned the ravines and to recover the high capital costs by charging a toll fee.

It offered value for money in Hugo's view.

The passes remained open and the more leisurely motorists continued to use them. It was, in Hugo's view, a win-win situation.

The bridges were built in the 1970s and by the end of the last century they had been paid for.
 
"For reasons difficult to understand, nobody seems to have questioned why tolls continued after the construction loans had been paid off and why the toll fees were increased regularly," said Hugo.

"It is true that there were improvements to the approaches and to the road between the bridges but that should have been a normal national roads project paid for in the normal way."

He wants to know how one could justify toll fees of R40 for cars and R102, R243 and R343 for heavy vehicles to use bridges fully paid for by a previous generation of users?

"We don’t know the traffic volumes - Sanral keeps facts like those close to its chest - but the income from the tolls must be enormous and it is certainly not spent on the Tsitsikama toll road. What happens to the money?" asked Hugo.

Huguenot Tunnel example

In the past Sanral stated that in 2004 the Huguenot Tunnel near Paarl in the Western Cape was used by an average of 8 500 vehicles a day and the record was about 18 000 during one Easter weekend.

Sanral has said traffic at this tunnel has been increasing by about 3% a year.

"That would mean 11 423 vehicles a day this year. If all these vehicles are cars, they will each pay R30 every time they use the tunnel and that will give Sanral a daily income of R342 690, R10.28m per month or R123m a year," said Hugo.

"In fact, the income would be even higher as at least 10% of vehicles are trucks paying R84, R131 or R217, depending on the mass and the number of axels."

The tunnel was completed in 1988 at a cost of R202.6m so an income R123m a year on a project that has already been paid for in full makes for a highly profitable venture.

What happens to the profits?

To Hugo the big question is what happens to the profits?

"Sanral says this is the 'user pays' principal, but that is simply not true. The users have paid for the Huguenot Tunnel and they are now being exploited, probably to cross-subsidise other Sanral projects," said Hugo.

"This means that Huguenot Tunnel toll fees are now a form of taxation and this is what Sanral does not want Capetonians to know."

- Fin24

How much do you contribute to toll profits? Add your voice and send us pictures.

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