AT LAST, An Endgame For e-tolls?

[Jan Horn]

The following form the Alberton Record

Sorry folks, but last week’s national news headlines that e-toll were a thing of the past had the champagne corks popping too soon – they are here to stay for now.
Until an alternative long-term method of financing is determined, it will be business as usual for e-tolls in Gauteng.
Last week, it seemed Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana dealt the highly contentious e-toll system in Gauteng its final blow when he announced during his mid-term budget speech that government would take over 70% of the South African National Roads Agency’s (Sanral) e-toll debt of over R45.9b.
During a press briefing before his speech, Godongwana said the following:
“For the past seven years, we’ve been dilly-dallying on this issue, which has impacted negatively on Sanral’s balance sheet. Therefore, we’ve come to the conclusion that we have to close this matter once and for all.”
However, in a statement released yesterday, Godongwana said Sanral has a statutory obligation to collect any e-toll fees dues to them until a notice is gazetted that says otherwise.
According to Treasury, for this to happen, the Gauteng government needs to find an alternative long-term method to collect revenue from road users who have been paying their e-toll fees and those who have not paid. It is estimated that between only 15 and 20% of motorists actually pay their e-tolls.
Newly elected Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi hinted at alternative revenue collection in a tweet after Godongwana’s announcement, saying they have agreed to the formulation of a new revenue enhancement model which excludes tolling.
“We are now ready to start a new life without e-tolls in Gauteng. This was not an easy decision but necessary,” he wrote.
Just over three weeks ago, Sanral told Parliament’s portfolio committee on transport that it is expected to lose out on e-toll revenue of R10.1b as a result of its ‘inability to enforce revenue collection’ in Gauteng. In its 2021/2022 annual report, Sanral also called the e-toll system ‘a burden on its entire portfolio’.
The Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project implemented e-tolls as its funding mechanism in December 2013 under the auspices of Sanral, with the 201km road network comprising only 1% of the national road network managed by Sanral. In the nearly 10 years since, the system has been met with strong resistance from road users.
One of e-tolls’ most vocal opponents has been the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), which has continuously called for the system’s scrapping.
After Godongwana’s budget speech last week, Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage said the e-toll conflict was one that seven ministers of transport, a trail of finance ministers and three presidents were unable to resolve.
“Sanral has received R22.4b from National Treasury since 2012, plus R230m a year from the Gauteng provincial government since the inception of the e-tolls scheme.
“Despite evidence-based research from Outa pointing to the scheme’s obvious failures, government persisted for years, resulting in the waste of billions of rand in taxpayers’ money on this expensive, irrational and overpriced collection scheme.”

[Phillip Coetser]

Government wants new ‘hybrid model’ to pay off e-tolls.....https://businesstech.co.za/news/governm ... f-e-tolls/
Staff Writer22 November 2022
The Gauteng provincial government says that it will contribute R12.9 billion towards the decommissioning of e-tolls in Johannesburg – but will do it over a longer term, using a new ‘hybrid model’ to draw revenue.
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi met with finance minister Enoch Godongwana and road agency Sanral to hash out a plan for ending the system in the province this week.
He said that the province would raise the R12.9 billion needed to settle the province’s portion of the debt through “different revenue streams in the form of a hybrid model”, and that it will be paid over a long-term payment period.
The premier did not specify what the “hybrid model” would be, nor did he say how long the term of payment would be. He previously proposed that the money be paid over 20 years.

Regards

[Jan Horn]

Gauteng’s motorists will need to continue paying their e-tolls for at least another six months, despite the project’s supposed shutdown.

The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) confirmed to TopAuto that it has renewed its e-toll contract until December 2023, and that road users are required to pay their bills until the relevant legislation has been repealed.

Delays and renewals
In October 2022, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced that phase 1 of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project would no longer require the electronic road toll collection system (colloquially referred to as “e-tolls”), to finance the province’s freeway upgrades.

Despite this announcement, Sanral signed an extension to its e-toll collections contract with the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) agency in late 2022, which was then scheduled to expire in June 2023. This is after a previous extension was signed in April 2022.

Now, the roads agency has confirmed that it has once again extended its contract with a new deadline of 15 December 2023, during which time the province’s gantries will continue to charge motorists that pass under them.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) labelled the contract extension and consequent delay to the e-toll shutdown as “either gross ineptitude, incompetence, or a reluctance by Government to end the scheme, for some unknown or obscure reason.”

“OUTA has repeatedly called for finality on the e-toll situation and warned against extending the collection contract,” it said in an official statement.

The group has described the renewals as an irregular and unnecessary expense, and has repeatedly called on the Minister of Transport and Sanral to put an end to the road billing scheme.

Read the Full Story At

https://topauto.co.za/features/82406/so ... -at-least/

[Phillip Coetser]

Johannesburg – The civil society Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) said it is not surprised at what it called “another delay” in the final action to end e-tolls. This means Sanral will continue to charge e-tolls to the very few who are still paying, until the matter is gazetted. Anyone who is still paying is wasting their money, as they won’t get a refund and for those who have refused to pay, there are no negative consequences for them.
More here,.......https://www.iol.co.za/the-star/news/any ... 5ba417e4cb

Regards