CT tolling argy bargy continues

The showdown between the City of
Cape Town and the South African
National Road Agency Ltd (Sanral)
over the tolling of the N1/N2
Winelands route is far from over.
Kobus van der Walt, Sanral
regional manager: Western and
Northern Cape, told FTW this week
that Sanral did not believe that the
Western Cape High Court judgment
made in September setting aside
the tender awarded by Sanral to the
Protea Parkways Consortium (PPC)
to toll the N1 and N2 was correct.
“Administrative decisions, which
are necessary to enable Sanral to
fulfil its mandate, cannot be set
aside more than four years after the
decision was taken,” he said.
With this in mind and taking
legal advice into consideration, he
said, the decision was therefore
taken to appeal the judgment.
The Western Cape High court at
the end of November granted Sanral
leave to appeal and that process is
now under way.
At the time of going to press
Judge Ashley Binns-Ward was
expected to make a judgment on
the issue of costs involved with the
appeals process. He had reserved
judgment on this when granting
the roads agency leave to appeal.
Sanral and the City of Cape
Town have been at loggerheads and
embroiled in litigation for years
now over the tolling of the N1 and
N2.
The City has maintained that it
is an unnecessary cost and that the
process in which PPC was awarded
the tender to toll the roads was
f lawed, not transparent and would
in fact cost millions.
Van der Walt told FTW that
Sanral’s views on the upgrade of the
N1 and N2 remained unchanged
and that it was vital because many
developments had taken place along
the N1and N2 corridors but with no
new road improvements or upgrades
since 1972.
Asked if Sanral was willing to
meet with the City to discuss and
find solutions to the matter outside of
court, he said, the route of litigation
had been initiated by the City.