'No turning back over e-tolls'

Motorists should know within "a week or so" whether they will pay e-tolls and how much they will part with.

This is the first indication from the government with regard to the collection of tolls after it won an appeal in the Constitutional Court last week.

An interministerial committee headed by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe met the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance yesterday.

This was the first meeting about the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project.

Thabo Masebe, spokesman for Motlanthe, said the committee was not only talking to the alliance but was going back to all stakeholders.

"Regardless of the verdict, there has always been plans to go back to the different parties for another round of consultation," he said.

The user-pay system would have seen motorists cough up from April have the high court not granted the alliance an interim interdict to halt the start of e-tolling.

But after the Constitutional Court overturned that ruling last week, roads agency Sanral can now start tolling Gauteng's highways. But the government is still mum as to when this is likely to take place and how much it will cost motorists.

Masebe said "consultations should be done within a week" and the government would then announce a way forward.

However, the alliance plans to continue with a judicial review of e-tolling . The review is scheduled for late November.

Sanral needs the revenue to service a debt of about R20-billion, which it incurred to improve Gauteng highways.

The national Treasury is behind Sanral as it would have to foot the bill if the roads agency fails to raise the cash.

The first consultations with stakeholders started in May.

Masebe said the most pressing issues were the cost to motorists as well as the perceived high cost of collecting the tolls.

Alliance chairman Wayne Duvenage said after the meeting with the committee, that it had found common ground on a number of "peripheral issues". He said the government "has made it clear that it still intends to toll".

Talks with stakeholders have been continuing despite the court battle between Sanral, the Treasuryand the alliance.

"At some stage you have to make a decision. There is a debt that has to be settled," Masebe said.