Roads agency makes case for more tolls

the south african national roads agency limited (sanral) is planning to build six new toll-roads within the next three years, as part of an effort to preserve the national road asset.

the proposed toll-roads fall under the agency’s strategic vision, contained in a programme called horizon 2010, which calls for 3 383 km of road to be tolled.

though still in the proposal stage, the programme anticipates the implementation of the following toll-roads: the n2 tsitsikamma road and its extension (54 km), the n3 durban-pietermaritzburg road and its extension (86 km) (durban-cedara), the n17 east road (160km) (springs to ermelo), the n4 east – gauteng/mpumalanga border (71 km), the n11 ladysmith-ermelo (255km) and n12 gillooly’s/witbank (27km).

to fund the project, sanral will raise, through its national treasury activities, an estimated sum of r1,805-billion over the next three financial years.

“although the principle followed by the agency is the preservation of our national road asset, the proposed toll-road scheme will alleviate pressure on the fiscus, thereby releasing money for the expanded nontoll-road network.

“furthermore, the public/private partnership programme of the agency also funds roads ‘off balance sheet’ contributing to government and resulting in a saving to the fiscus,” the agency says in its declaration of intent document.

the current 7 200 km of national roads under the agency’s jurisdiction, comprises both toll and nontoll-roads.

while toll-roads are funded through the user-pay principle, nontoll-roads are funded through the national treasury.

the challenge faced by sanral in this regard, specifically in relation to nontoll-roads, is that while road use continually grows, road funding declines.

“the current funding level from the national treasury, unfortunately, has fallen to such a level that it cannot fully finance the maintenance needs of the existing network, let alone provide for extensions required to meet the growing traffic demands,” the agency added.

working on an assumed funding level of r800-million a year for the nontoll national road network – and the nonrealisation of the toll-road programme – sanral says the existing road network will rapidly deteriorate over the next eight years, to a forecast backlog of some r8,5-billion. this implies that the assumed funding levels are only sufficient to effectively maintain approximately 40% of the nontoll network.

“as the agency’s principal key strategic challenge is the long-term sustainability of a primary road network, a programme needs to be developed to finance road provision to cater for the whole nation rather than for a few.

“however, by understanding the needs and concerns of road users, the motivation for using national roads, their expectations of what constitutes a fair return and how the agency can improve road safety clearly suggests a primary road network consisting of both toll and nontoll-roads,” sanral explained.

the agency added that, in view of its scarce financial resources, it is of utmost importance to establish a primary road network in order to close or satisfy the funding gap between demand and national treasury allocations.

meanwhile, automobile association of south african spokesperson gary ronald said that whereas a need exists to upgrade and improve the national roads infrastructure, the average motorist is being tolled excessively.

the aa, he said, would be in favour of the reintroduction of a dedicated road fund, funded through the sale of fuel.