City of CT fires another salvo in battle with Sanral

The City of Cape Town is continuing its legal battle with the South African National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) in a bid to stop the tolling of the N2 Winelands route. The City is set to petition the Supreme Court of Appeal after its application for leave to appeal a Western Cape High Court ruling in August this year was denied. The current legal battle is over a court ruling involving the confidentiality of documents about the proposed tolling of the N1/ N2 Winelands route. A legal expert explained to FTW the City wanted all documentation regarding tenders around the tolling process made public from the start, while Sanral wanted to keep information undisclosed, only making full disclosure of the information pertaining to the Winelands toll tender once the final tenders had been awarded. The court ruled in favour of Sanral and also denied the City leave to appeal resulting in the City now calling on the Supreme Court of Appeal to allow it the right to appeal. According to a city spokesman the current process, if allowed to continue, would give Sanral the right to sign a concession contract and only disclose information after the fact when it would be too late to change the essential aspects of the tender contracts. Sanral has maintained that tolling more than 180kms of the N2 Winelands is crucial while the City of Cape Town believes it is unnecessary.