Planning for new highway
projects in South Africa has
been put on hold as funding
of new infrastructure
remains a contested issue,
South African National
Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral)
CEO Nazir Alli said at last
week’s Transport Forum in
Johannesburg.
Alli said the Gauteng
Freeway Improvement
Project (GFIP) had been the
first massive construction
project in the country in the
past 25 years, but no new
projects were on the cards.
“We have to take into
account that we have given
the public a voice in the
country and we must listen
to them,” he said. “There
are, however, no new
freeways being planned
at the moment, because
those with the loudest
voices in the country have
halted the entire process.
This, however, does not
mean there is no need for
upgrades or new roads.”
Alli said funding of
new infrastructure now
lay at the heart of the
problem. “Infrastructure
development is necessary
for this country, but
there seems to be an
unwillingness by people
to grasp the basic concept
of funding of this
infrastructure.
“Unless we come to
terms and understand the
funding concept we will
not get what we need or
require.”
According to Alli,
finding answers to the
complex questions around
the funding of new
infrastructure is not easy.
“Should the tax base
revenues pay more or is
there a role for the private
sector?” he asked. “We are
already using pension funds
so what more can we do or
is there a new way of doing
it?”T his, said Alli, was all
taking place alongside
government’s attempts to
close the inequality gap in
the country.
“With the GFIP, the
decision was taken to
exempt public transport
operators, and if one now
reads the court papers
one sees that there are
claims that Sanral is
being discriminatory,” he
said. “Public transport,
rightly so, is heavily
subsidised. Which brings
me to ask – how do we
continue subsidising public
transport and provide road
infrastructure for free?”
According to Alli, only
3100km of road in South
Africa is tolled out of more
than 600 000km of road
network.
“Be it direct or indirect
taxes, we only have one pot
in this country to fund our
infrastructure and that pot
is small and is not very full
– in fact, it is fairly empty.
Do we cut public
transport subsidies to
build better roads or do
we toll?” he asked. “These
are hard questions and
those opposing us do not
have solutions, but only
complaints about what we
do.”
Ultimately, he said, it was
government’s job to make
the difficult decisions and
implement them regardless
of any complaints.
INSERT
‘Unless we come to the heart of the problem.’
terms and understand
the funding concept
we will not get what
we need or require.’
CAPTION
Nazir Alli … ‘Infrastructure funding at the heart of the problem.'
