City of CT to grill Sanral on toll fees

How can a R10 billion contract to build two Western Cape tolls roads turn into a R48- billion revenue stream for a consortium of civil engineering companies? This is just one of the questions Cape Town business is asking of the South African National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) after information around the Winelands tolling project was made public last week. The information around the tender awarded to the Protea Parkway Consortium by Sanral, which will see some 180km of road on the N1 and N2 tolled, has been shrouded in secrecy after the Western Cape High court last year ordered it not for public scrutiny. The City of Cape Town and Sanral have been embroiled in a bitter legal battle over the tolling of the Winelands route since 2012. In August last year the Western Cape High Court found in favour of Sanral, ruling that the information around the awarding of the tender be kept out of the public domain and full disclosure by Sanral was not necessary. The court found that Sanral could go ahead and sign the concession contract and only make information public after the fact, but the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein overruled this. “We can now reveal that residents from the Western Cape and visitors to this region will pay toll tariffs that are nearly three times that of the e-toll tariffs that are being charged by the new Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project,” said Brett Herron, City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for transport. “PPC’s anticipated toll revenue over the concession period (2010 values, excluding VAT) is in the region of R48bn.” At the time of the awarding of the contract it was estimated it would cost R10 billion to toll the roads. “The decision to declare the Winelands toll roads was taken by Nazir Alli, CEO of Sanral, and not by the Sanral Board, as is required by the Sanral Act,” said Herron, “and Sanral failed to disclose the grave consequences of the reimbursement clause in its Concession Contract with PPC to the Sanral board and the transport minister. The contract addresses the risk that the minister may determine lower toll tariffs than the concessionaire is entitled to charge under the concession contract, or may refuse or delay approving a change in the toll tariffs.” This has resulted in a massive outcry in the Western Cape. And according to Herron, the Cape Town toll issue is still far from over. “We will file our replying papers to Sanral’s answering affidavit by 25 April. In these papers the City will fully disclose the calculations that are being investigated by nine experts, among these how much of every rand collected in toll fees will be spent on the toll project infrastructure and operations as opposed to road improvements, maintenance and operational work,” he said. “And then of course we head back to the Western Cape High Court in April when our review application will be heard.”