Motorists who paid e-tolls will be refunded, confirms Lesufi

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi has confirmed e-tolls will be officially scrapped in the province and motorists who paid fees will be refunded.

Speaking on 702 this week, Lesufi said the decision on whether to refund Gauteng motorists was one of the key issues that led to the delay of the e-tolling system being scrapped on December 31, as originally planned.

It followed finance minister Enoch Godongwana's announcement on October 26 last year, during his mid-term budget speech, that a new financing mechanism for the Gauteng freeway upgrade debt will replace the failed e-toll scheme.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) criticised the delay in scrapping the e-tolls, but Lesufi said there were financial and tax implications for the province which need to be ironed out. Scrapping the scheme requires formally declaring Gauteng freeways are no longer toll roads in a gazetted notice by the department of transport. Lesufi hoped this would be finalised within the next few weeks.

He said R6.9bn would be refunded to the 17% of Gauteng drivers who have been paying e-tolls.

Thereafter, the focus will shift to how the Gauteng government will fund road maintenance and development.

While the scrapping of user-pays gantries is seen as a victory for Gauteng motorists and brings an end to years of protests and objection against the system, there is R43bn that needs to be paid for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project launched in 2007 to ease increasing congestion on the province’s roads.

Government will pay 70% of the outstanding debt and the Gauteng government 30%.

Gauteng must also cover the costs of maintaining the 201km of roads and associated interchanges and any additional investment.

Lesufi said the government would start a consultative process with Gauteng motorists to find the best way to collect revenue.

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