Deadline looms for freeway tolls

The South African National Roads Agency is putting its money where its mouth is and investing a whopping R25-billion in the country’s freeways in the next two years. According to Sanral chief executive officer Nazir Alli, the organisation remains committed to upgrading and maintaining freeways. Sanral, which is responsible for the design, funding, SAN maintenance, operations and rehabilitation of South Africa’s tolled and non-tolled national roads, will need to raise debt finance for the R 25-billion required to accomplish its ambitious plans. “Economic conditions are certainly tougher than they were when we began issuing debt to finance the major projects now under way. However, indications are that investors will continue to be reassured by our good market ratings and track record of efficiently maintaining the network and settling debt,” said Alli. Expecting solid participation from the capital markets in the company’s debt offerings, Alli said Sanral was on track to raise the necessary funds needed to undertake its programme, which would see most of the civil works completed by October 2010. Across Gauteng the efforts are already starting to take shape as the freeway project, which is expected to absorb at least R20-billion of the budget, is firmly under way. According to Sanral, the Gauteng freeway upgrade was an imperative project for the commercial and industrial hub of the country. Construction, said Alli, has been proceeding on schedule despite inclement weather conditions during the past few months. He said post October 2010 the freeways making up the GFIP would be operated on the “user-pays principle.” An Open Road tolling system would be used, requiring each vehicle to carry an electronic tag that would automatically trigger the electronic tolling system housed in 38 overhead gantries set about 10km apart across the Gauteng freeway system. Various options for billing the toll fees to motorists were still being appraised, Alli said, but could include linking tags to bank accounts, systems to recharge tags at retail outlets or internet-based products. Although the GFIP was Sanral’s main focus, the capital investment programme would see improvements being made to the N2 Tsitsikamma Toll Road, the N17 East Toll Road Extension, the N1 South and R30 Bloemfontein-Kroonstad road. Other roads affected would include the N1 Polokwane Bypass, the Marianhill Extension near Durban and the Dube Trade Port Interchange which would serve the new King Shaka International Airport on the KwaZulu Natal North Coast, he said. Proposed new toll road concessions on the N1/N2 Winelands Toll Highway and the R300 Ring Road in the Western Cape and the N2 Wild Coast Toll Highway had been submitted for regulatory approval, Alli concluded.