Cape toll tariffs still to be decided

Claims that toll fee tariffs on the N1/N2 Winelands toll road will be three times the amounts payable by road-users using the Gauteng toll roads have been disputed by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral). Addressing the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry last week, Sanral CEO Nazir Alli said toll tariffs had not been set although the preferred bidder for the project, the Protea Parkway Consortium (PPC), had recommended a tariff structure. This, however, was only a proposal as the final decision on toll tariffs lay with the Minister of Transport. “Claims of profits of R48 billion on this project are also not correct,” he said. “These figures have been reached simply by taking the recommended tariff structure and multiplying it over the 30-year concession period to determine a revenue stream and then subtracting the initial R10 million construction from that.” Alli said these figures were simply not feasible as it was not possible to determine the revenue of the toll roads. “We cannot guarantee the revenue as we cannot guarantee the traffic. The revenue is also not the profit. These are issues that are causing major confusion and have to be clarified.” He said claims that Sanral had signed a contract with the preferred bidder with a clause that said if the expected profit from tolls was not met then Sanral would have to be held liable for the shortfall were also false. The City of Cape Town has publicly stated that it estimates that Sanral could have to reimburse the concessionaire as much as R40.9 billion should the transport minister refuse to sanction PPC’s toll tariff, resulting in a lower tariff determination for the project. “No contract has been signed with the preferred bidder and so the issue of such a clause does not even arise,” said Alli who also pointed out that the only toll project in the country currently where the risk was shared between the private sector and government and where traffic was also guaranteed was Chapman’s Peak, run by the Western Cape provincial government. “We are not funding this project for the concessionaire. The revenue and traffic risk will be fully borne by the concessionaire,” he said. “And there is a lot of risk in this project for the concessionaire.” He said a lot of thought and detail had gone into the process around which roads in the country needed to be tolled – and in addition it was a legislative process. “We don’t just wake up in the morning and decide this or that road must be tolled. It is a carefully thought out process aimed at benefiting road users.” INSERT & CAPTION Claims of profits of R48bn on this project are not correct. – Nazir Alli