Funding impasse halts new Sanral freeway projects

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.'