THE TOLL tariff adjustment
announced last week by
the South African National
Roads Agency Limited
(Sanral) will translate into
an increase in excess of
8% for hauliers on the
DBN-JHB N3 corridor come
March 1.
“This annual adjustment
is effective on all national
toll routes in the country
and has been approved by
the Minister of Transport,
adjusted in accordance
with the Consumer Price
Index (CPI) to ensure that
the increases remain fair,”
chief executive officer
of Sanral, Nazir Alli, told
FTW. “Toll financing allows
government to add capacity
(new highways or additional
lanes) that cannot
otherwise be funded under
the current and projected
transportation budget
scenario,” he said.
But the freight industry
is not impressed. “It’s
just another cost that
we are going to have to
absorb and pass on,” says
Mario Nobrega of Durban
based Africa Transit Cargo.
“Personally, I think it’s a
plot to get us off the roads
and onto rail.”
“I think you will see
a good few transporters
diverting to alternate
routes to avoid the tolls
to keep operating costs
down,” says Paul Botha
of Gauteng-based Freight
Haul. “These roads are
heavily potholed and not
built for heavy loads and
volumes, which may push
up the maintenance costs.
But even more concerning
is the cost of fuel.”
“We are tabulating the
figures and trying to work
out rates at the moment,”
says Gerald Naidu of SA
Inland Logistics. “The new
tolls and the increased
price of diesel following the
finance minister’s speech
last week will be a huge
additional cost.”
While one transporter
remarked: “It would be nice
if more of the collected
monies actually went back
into road maintenance on
the route,” concessionaires
on the corridor, the N3 Toll Concession, responded:
“Our maintenance
expenditure for 2007 was in
excess of R300m.”
Toll hike compounds hauliers’ woes
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