The South African government and The South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL), a state-owned entity, embarked on an ambitious yet controversial project in 2008, aimed at improving roads and putting an end to congestion on Gauteng’s major highways. Here’s a breakdown of that initiative:

E-Tolls - The Path To Electronic Toll Gates

2005
Gauteng officials concerns over the state of the province’s roads, lead to an investigation to establish how they can be improved.

2006
The Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) is adopted, following a report from a joint venture between the Department of Transport, the South African National Roads Agency Limited and the City of Johannesburg.

2007
The GFIP Report is handed over to the Mayoral Committee of Johannesburg and while discussions around the project carry on until 2009, members of the National Cabinet approve the project in July 2007. Jeff Radebe, the country’s Minister of Transport announces that the project will be funded by user-fees, estimating that it will cost motorists about 50c/km.

2008
Contracts to start phase one of the three-step-process to improve Gauteng’s roads are awarded and construction begins in June.

2009
With construction now in full swing, Gauteng motorists have to quickly learn to adjust to the constant lane closures, bridge demolitions and blasting exercises

2010
In the months leading up to South Africa hosting the continent’s first ever Soccer World Cup Tournament, construction continues. Early estimates suggest the first phase will be completed before kick-off, but the May deadline has to be pushed back 

2011
In February, SANRAL announces that the GFIP will cost motorists 66c/km and heavy duty trucks will have to pay R3.96/km. Towards the end of the year, Cabinet announces that it plans to delay the implementation of other phases of the project, until they have figured out how they are going to finance the rest of the multi-billion rand project. Cabinet also announces that they plan to exempt buses and taxis from having to pay toll fees.

2012
By January, SANRAL says over 212,000 people have registered for e-tolling. The country’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announces that R5.8 billion will be given to the GFIP to help pay off debt, which is estimated to be approaching R59 billion. During the minister’s budget speech, he announces that tariffs for e-tags will be reduced to 30c/km for light motor vehicles, 20c/km for motorcycles, 75c/km for non-articulated trucks and R1.51/km for articulated trucks.The good news for Gauteng’s motorists is that there will be a R550 monthly cap on toll fees. Gordhan declares that e-tolling will commence on 30 April 2012.

The Government VS The People

Stop any driver in the Gauteng region and ask if they understand or see a need for the tolls to be implemented in April and you will most likely receive an overwhelming no.

The ANC has, since announcing the tolls to the public, faced fierce resistance from civil organisations, opposition parties, the private sector and the public at large. At the helm of those against the tolls are thegovernment’s alliance partners. The Congress of South African Trade Unions 

(COSATU) has gone as far as staging anti-toll fee protest marches across the country. Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has gone as far as threatening to blockade the highways, making the tolls unworkable.

The country’s biggest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance has lodged a complaint against the Gauteng tolling system with the National Consumer Tribunal, saying it doesn’t believe the battle is over. 

The Automobile Association has also weighed in on the matter, saying a lot of issues still have to be clarified before e-tolling is enforced. The AA’s Gary Ronald says, “There are viable alternatives to this programme.” Ronald says the government should have tried to pay the loan off by itself, or looked at the fuel levy as a source of funding. “The cost of collecting is ridiculous. Paying a company one rand off of every two rand collected is way too expensive for the consumer.”

The Road Freight Association (RFA) says implementing the tolls will be equivalent to doubling the fuel price. 

Others within the private sector have warned that operators are going to be forced to pass the increased costs on to consumers, thus fuelling inflation and leading to increases in the price of goods.

This is a concern echoed by The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, which is also against the tolls. 

Controversies

The GFIP has been marred by controversy from its inception. SANRAL and the government have had to explain the reasons for the project and how it will affect the country’s citizens, several times.

In December 2011 customers who had already registered for e-tags, claimed they had received notifications that money was already being deducted from their accounts. That’s despite the fact that the system hadn’t yet commenced.

In January this year more allegations were levelled against SANRAL - this time from several motorists who said they were stopped in roadblocks by what appeared to be the agency’s officials and threatened with fines unless they purchased e-tags.

As the implementation of e-tolls approach, questions are still being asked about the legislation around the e-tolls. The Ministry of Transport has said that motorists who refuse to pay for the tolls, will be prevented from renewing their drivers’ licences. It’s a move which has yet to be voted on by national government.

Many are concerned that the terms and conditions signed by motorists are not in line with the Consumer Protection Act. The conditions stipulated allow SANRAL to get credit references for prospective clients - a move which is seen by some as a gross violation of consumers’ rights to privacy.

In March the City of Johannesburg started registering all its vehicles for e-tags. It’s been estimated that with the new system, they will have to pay up to R4 Million a month. It’s an amount that has reportedly not been budgeted for.
 
SANRAL has maintained that the processes behind the GFIP have always been transparent. Despite this, the agency’s CEO Nazir Allie handed over documents filled with blacked out pages to COSATU’s General Secretary. 

Cosatu too has been dragged into the controversy. It’s alleged that one of the Trade Union Federation’s investors, Kopano Ke Matla, has shares in a construction company called Raubex, which won a tender to build one of the province’s highways.

Raubex received a R800 Million to rebuild the R21 highway - of that, R24 Million went to Ke Matla.
 
It’s also emerged that the company’s Chief Executive Collin Matjila was the non-executive chair of Raubex. Although COSATU has gone on the record, denying any knowledge of the deals, questions were raised after Matjila resigned from Raubex and references were made to advertisements SANRAL had placed for tenders to upgrade and construct national roads in 2008.
 
The advert also stated that the roads will be tolled using an open road tolling system.

Implementation - How Will The Tolls Work?

The massive gantries that reflect UV light in the evenings have become part of Jo’burg’s landscape.  There are forty gantries situated along all the major national freeways in Gauteng. They work on an electronic user-pay system, capturing information as motorists pass by. 

The intelligent transport system consists of variable message signs, CCTV cameras, incident management services and electronic notice boards, allowing the agency to warn road users of congestion. The cameras also allow officials to pick up incidents quickly, thus enabling them to act fast. Vehicle emissions usually associated with the stop-start driving, experienced in Gauteng during peak hour traffic, are also expected to be considerably reduced.

Moving Forward - Getting With The Programme

What we know for sure, is that you can choose how you want to pay the tolls. You can either get an e-tag fitted onto your vehicle’s windscreen or opt to have your vehicle recognised through your licence plate. You can also choose to have a pre-paid account or a credit card settlement account. Gauteng has numerous e-toll service outlets where motorists can register or find out more information about the processes required.

During first week of April the National Roads Agency announced that live testing of the electronic toll transaction was to commence on the 5th of April. During this process motorists with vehicles already fitted with the e-tags would start hearing beeps from their devices as they went through some of the gantries around the province.
 When tolling does finally get underway, motorists should be aware of their beeping systems; one indicating a successful transaction, two serve as a warning that e-toll funds are low and four or none mean the transaction failed.

A Week To Go Before Gauteng’s Toll Roads Kick In 

SANRAL still faces fierce opposition from all sorts of groups and Gauteng motorists’ last hope lies with civil organizations - some of which are taking the agency to court this week. OUTA, the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance is trying to convince the South Gauteng High Court that tolling is illegal and unjustified, whilst the RFA and rights group Afriforum have asked to be admitted into the hearing, in order to make submissions against tolling. The National Consumer Commission is also waiting for SANRAL to explain why it has allocated steep tariffs for motorists who would not be using e-tags – those motorists will be paying up to R1.74c/km in a the government gazette released on the 13th of April. 

A Few Interesting Facts
 
• Gauteng is the country’s most densely populated province with 1 in 5 of the country’s residents living   in the area
• 180 000 vehicles pass along the Ben Schoeman Highway every day; that’s roughly 12 000 every hour
• Gauteng has 3.5 million registered vehicles
• 700 000 tonnes of goods are transported annually on Gauteng’s roads
• Accidents are the number two killer of people in South Africa
• The GFIP will upgrade 560 kilometres of roads around the province, with 185 kilometres already covered during the first phase of the project
• The GFIP has employed 20 000 people 
• The improvement project has injected R15.3 billion into the South African economy. Of that, R6 billion will go to the Gauteng Province
• The GFIP project requires R1 Billion to maintain the tolling system 
• The freeway improvement project has resulted in 42 electronic toll gates being erected on the N1, N3, N12, N17, R21 and R24
• 34 interchanges have undergone reconstruction. Among those demolished and rebuilt are the Allandale off-ramps, the Gillooly’s interchange, Grey Avenue exits, William Nicol, Lynnwood and the Atterbury exits.
Go to: www.sanral.co.za for more.