The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has disclosed that they are facing financial restraints, which will affect the progression of road expansion in SA.
This consideration arises due to the backlog of road maintenance required for existing roads.
It follows the release of Sanral's Annual Performance Plan for 2023/24, where the enterprise stated that it would need to make more "rational and prudent decisions" regarding the county's road network expansion, its support for other road authorities, and its maintenance of roads under varying government jurisdictions.
Sanral is currently responsible for the maintenance of just under 23 500 km of roads, while provinces are responsible for 271 500 km, metros are responsible for 66 150 km, and municipalities are responsible for 256 900 km.
However, the government continues to adamantly move the maintenance of the most neglected provincial and municipal roads into Sanral's portfolio, putting more pressure on the agency.
Approximately 1500km of roads have been considered for transfer to the Sanral portfolio for maintenance.
In response to a parliamentary Q&A, the Department of Transport explained that some provinces are transferring their road responsibilities to Sanral, hoping for better development and management.
Sanral, in response, is stating that without further financial aid from the national fiscus that matches their expanding responsibilities, they will be unable to keep up with the maintenance of these roads.
"Sanral has reached a 'fiscal cliff' in balancing network growth against insufficient funds per kilometer required to maintain the Overall Condition Index (OCI) of the network to an acceptable level," it said.
According to Sanral, if their budget is not increased, the plan will need to be reconsidered, and the 15 000km road responsibility transfer will have to be reduced to a 3 000km transfer.
"The agency does not have the financial and human capacity to take over the management of such a large network of roads,” Sanral said.
“This new approach is of critical importance because previous road transfers were often done without the necessary budget transfers.
“Subsequent additional budget allocations from National Treasury have not adequately met the life cycle cost requirements of the transferred roads.”
Sanral said it is prepared to manage 25 000km of roads; however, the government is urging the agency to maintain a total of 35 000km of roads.
Given Sanral's financial restraints and growing road maintenance responsibilities, it has said it cannot continue with the expansion of the South African road network.
"Not doing expansions will result in increased congestion and associated increases in road user costs on parts of the network. Mobility is one of the most fundamental and important characteristics of economic activity as it satisfies the basic need of going from one location to another – a need shared by passengers and freight," it said.
"Apart from the direct cost of congestion on the economy – through hours lost, productivity, and vehicle operating costs – the social impact of congestion on society is probably the biggest concern."
Sanral says it would require about R15.8 billion per year for the next ten years to fulfil its most basic responsibilities, address the backlog of maintenance, and continue the expansion of the road network.
The agency says it is an advocate of public-private financial collaboration but admits that it does not guarantee success, as it recalls the failure of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) and the stalemate e-Toll system.
