E-tolls cut, but not enough for drivers

The Department of Transport has given in to the public outcry - but not much, reducing the proposed toll for motorists on Gauteng's freeways to 58c a kilometre.

George Mahlalela, the department's director-general, announced that it had reduced the proposed toll from 66c/km to 58c/km for infrequent users of freeways.

Though this is bad news for Gauteng motorists, those in Durban and Cape Town can heave a sigh of relief that proposals made last year to toll their freeways are not under discussion.

Last year, the SA National Roads Agency announced that it was considering tolls for the N1/N2 approach and for the R300 ring road in Cape Town, and for roads around Durban's new Dube Trade Port.

There have been significant freeway improvements in those cities.

Transport Department spokesman Sam Monareng said that the freeway-improvement projects in Gauteng and provinces other than Western Cape and Kwa-Zulu-Natal had been "budgeted for in different ways".

He said the Gauteng freeway improvement project was begun years ago and "there was no money in the fiscus" to pay for it at the time.

When Transport Minister S'bu Ndebele announced in February that he would implement the 66c/km tariff Sanral had asked for, it sparked a public outcry.

Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane was forced to intervene, asking for the implementation of the toll system to be suspended so that the public could be properly consulted.

Mahlalela said that he would be forwarding the new rate to Ndebele for his consideration.

But he incurred the ire of the business, commuter and political organisations that had participated in the consultations when he told them of the proposed fee only after telling the media.

He said Ndebele would forward the report to the cabinet for its approval before making a final announcement.

"We are hoping to implement the tolls by November," he said.

Mahlalela said discounts would be given to those who used the tolled roads frequently. These discounts include:

• A reduction from 30c/km to 24c/km for motorcycles;
• A reduction from 49c/km to 40c/km for frequent users of freeways in passenger cars;
• Taxi tolls have been cut from 16.5c/km to 11c/km; and
• Tolls for buses have been reduced from 50c/km to 36.3c/km.

He said medium-sized vehicles would pay R1/km should the new fees be approved instead of R1.49/km, and large trucks would pay R2 instead of R2.97.

Mahlalela also announced that tolls would go up every year and that an independent regulatory body would be established to oversee the process.

But tempers flared after the revised tolls were announced, with Business Unity SA (Busa) and commuter organisations arguing that the tolls would have a knock-on effect on the cost of doing business and travelling in the province.

Organisations that were part of the consultations - including Busa, Afriforum, the Road Freight Association and the Southern African Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association - said their input had been ignored and they would present their research to Ndebele himself.

Coenraad Bezuidenhout, Busa's acting executive director of economic policy, said that, though his organisation welcomed the reduction, he was concerned that tolls would have a negative effect on the economy.

"Business believes that urban tolling will make the business environment more costly and more complex, reducing our competitiveness and job-creation potential."

Dumisa Ntuli, spokesman for the ANC in Gauteng, which five months ago appointed a team to study the socioeconomic effect of the tolls, said he would comment only after he had studied the revised tolls.

He denied that the party's criticism of the tolls before the local government elections was a ploy to secure votes.

"We are still concerned that the tolls will impact on the economy of the province. We also think that the tolls will impact negatively on our secondary roads as motorists will run to them to avoid paying tolls."

The Road Freight Association said it would comment on the revised tolls today.

Francis Masitsa, chairman of the National Taxi Alliance, acknowledged the reduction for taxis but said he felt that his industry should be exempted from tolls because it transported the poor and would be forced to hike fares.

"The present conditions are such that, at 11c/km, the taxi operator will be expected to pay R122 a week, R400 a month and some R5800 a year," he said.

"This is a tax too much."