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Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says the government wants to act quickly to resolve electronic “Achilles heel” tolls to restore South Africa’s National Highway Agency (Sanral) to its full borrowing capacity.
“There was a social mobilization that took place and people decided that they were not going to pay,” Mbalula said in a video released by the transportation department to The citizen.
“We can make them pay by force and by law,” he said. “The problem is not about that. The government has considered all these issues and has developed a hybrid model. We were given the task of going back to see other mechanisms. “
Mbulula said the electronic tolls were devised by the government to fund the rollout to deal with congestion primarily on South African roads.
“This pandemic ruined us on many fronts and one of them was the end of electronic tolls. I myself, the finance minister and the president, through the cabinet, will be able to finish before we go to the recess and make a statement about it ”.
He said money earmarked for rural road development now had to be used to offset electronic tolls. However, the government was considering a “hybrid” system for financing the Gauteng Highway Improvement Project. He was not specific, but later praised the concept of a partnership with “private equity” to finance infrastructure projects.
Government economic theorists have already had the idea of instituting “prescribed” investments in such infrastructure projects for pension funds, the country’s largest source of private capital. However, the failed electronic tolls project is already a partnership between the government and the private sector, so the app remains an option.
The government has for years resisted financing the project through fuel levies. Meanwhile, highway users across the country have rejected the department’s plans to enforce the payment of electronic tolls.
Melanie Viljoen from Pretoria said she would never pay electronic tolls: “Not necessarily because I don’t agree with the initiative, but because it is such an inconsistent initiative. One week it is implemented and mandatory and the next year it is said to be thrown away and turned off, then back up and down again.
“Imagine that you have paid thousands, like a good citizen, and suddenly the government decides that the project will be closed and all pending fees will be canceled. You will not get your money back. “
Dylan Bennie, a resident of KwaZulu-Natal, said that if motorists gave in now, for the rest of their lives they would pay to travel within Johannesburg.
“This was not discussed with the citizens of Gauteng. So why are they pushing for the country to pay for their mistake? Don’t pay for what they decided to do without consulting the community, ”Bennie said.
“At KZN, people stopped electronic tolls and never settled. This should have been done in Gauteng as well.”
Last Thursday, at the launch of Transport Month, Mbalula said that he expected Sanral to launch the next infrastructure projects valued at R177 billion, without corruption. On Wednesday, he further explained electronic tolls, saying that before anything could be implemented, the pandemic hit the country.
“If you remember, he couldn’t move between Pretoria and Johannesburg. The roads are so beautiful now. But due to non-payment, this is stagnant. But this also financed the entire road infrastructure of the country.
“All of that has stalled due to electronic tolls, but we are going to solve that now. And we are solving it. I thought that by December of last year it would have been done, but it is not as easy as one would think ”.
He said the sooner the matter is resolved, the better. “Aarto is even asking questions. They don’t want electronic tolls either. “
He said that the majority of the working class was not affected by electronic tolls.
“But the middle class is affected and has joined the strike of default and [civil disobedience] and it has affected us as a country. We will solve that. The president has given us marching orders on the matter and once we are done, we will return to the cabinet and pronounce what needs to be done for the good of our country and our economy.
“Once the decision is made, we will announce the decision and the implications.”
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