Sanral fancies revolutionary tolling system

The South African National

Roads Agency Limited (Sanral)

is considering hybrid funding

models for

the Gauteng

Freeway

Improvement

Project (GFIP).

This is

according

to Alex van

Niekerk, Sanral

northern region

toll and traffic

manager,

who says the

agency is busy

establishing

how alternative

models would

impact vehicle licensing fees, as

well as tolling charges.

He believes subsidising

e-tolls through vehicle licence

fees would increase the fees

25%, even if e-toll compliance

rose to 90%.

Van Niekerk explained that

the ideal funding mechanism

was a closed system in which

road users paid for the total

distance they travelled on the

country’s road network, and

not just for

the use of toll

roads.

But such a

revolutionary

funding model

would rely

on several

technologies,

including that

GPS tracking

units be

fitted to every

vehicle in the

country.

He said

Sanral

advocated the user-pays

funding model because the

money generated from toll

roads did not go to the national

fiscus, and was ring-fenced for

toll roads specifically.

Van Niekerk all but

dismissed the fuel levy as a

toll funding solution. “Roads

authorities don’t have direct

control of where that money

goes; the fiscus spends money

where it is needed most.”

In many instances, this

spending is politically driven.

“Many things happen in

communities where votes are

required,” he said.

Van Niekerk claims the

GFIP has the most affordable

tariffs for open tolling

anywhere in the world. “Eighty

percent of users pay less than

R100 per month and e-tolling

is capped at R250 per month,”

he stated.

He is of the view that open

road tolling promotes travel

demand principles, ride

sharing and public transport

use, while catering for time-ofday

discounts.

“It improves incident

prediction and management

and assists the South African

Police Services with their

investigations,” he added.

Several challenges face the

agency, including crippling

road maintenance and

expansion backlogs.

He cautioned that, by 2030,

approximately 16 million

vehicles would be using South

Africa’s roads, with around

6.6 million of those roaming

Gauteng roads.

“Without tolling, South

Africa’s growth potential and

its ability to create jobs will be

compromised. If we don’t have

a sustainable revenue stream

and way to finance roads, then

the country cannot plan road

projects for the future.

He added that the chances

of building huge freeways

or commencing large-scale

road upgrade projects would

be “limited”, due to ongoing

budgetary constraints.

“Roads the world over do

not receive sufficient monetary

allocations,” he said.

INSERT AND CAPTION

The ideal funding

mechanism is a

closed system in

which road users pay

for the total distance

they travel.

– Alex van Niekerk

CAPTION

Sanral is considering hybrid funding models for GFIP.