Transport Minister Ms Dipuo Peters: Progress report on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project

20 Nov 2013

Deputy Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga
Acting Director General Mawethu Vilana
MEC of Roads and Transport in Gauteng, Dr. Ismail Vadi
SANRAL Board Chairperson, Ms Tembakazi MnyakaThe CEO of SANRAL
Nazir Alli Department of Transport and SANRAL officials
Members of the media
Ladies and Gentlemen

Today marks yet another milestone in the life of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project. It has been a long road since the day the project for the upgrading of the road network on some parts of Gauteng Highways was proclaimed.

Since the first phase of the project was completed, South Africans and Gauteng motorists in particular have enjoyed the convenience of driving on a world class highways. The roads, as the Supreme Court of Appeal observed recently, are "truly magnificent". Three lane roads were expanded to five and six lanes in some instances. A High-Tech Travel Demand Intelligence system was introduced to ensure constant and accurate monitoring of traffic on the e-tolled road network.

The system ensures that officials manning traffic flows from the Operations Centre in Samrand, are able to pick up incidents such car breakdowns and crashes as and when they occur and mobilise the necessary response. SANRAL introduced the Golden Hour service where emergency vehicles located in various parts of the highways stand ready to respond timeously to reported incidents on the highways.

This assists in preventing traffic jams and secondary crashes due to vehicles involved in crashes and therefore obstructing traffic. Recently, we got a letter from a lady by the name of Anne Felton that demonstrates how the system we have implemented on the e-tolled roads can come to the rescue of motorists. Anne wrote, and I quote: "Last week I got stuck on the N1 Highway travelling north. I was in a very precarious position. Just past the Malibongwe on-ramp. I was still trying to get hold of my insurance company but was scared out of my wits. The traffic was flying past me and I was very nervous.

My son-in-law rescued me but with quite difficulty fetching me in the middle of the highway. The next minute we saw a SANRAL Highway patrol. They handled the situation SO SO WELL. So professional in the way they stopped 2 lanes of traffic and crossed the highway to remove my car. At the next gantry there was a space to go into and the AA flatbed was waiting. We were very impressed with the execution of the exercise and I am now going to buy my e-tag. Please commend them on their professionalism and execution. From one distressed lady."

The system will also contribute to the fight against vehicle cloning because the technology picks up and reads car registration details. Working with traffic officials who are permanently deployed at the center, we are able to attend to such incidents within a reasonable space of time.

All these great and world-class initiatives have come at a cost. SANRAL had to approach the markets to raise at least R20 billion to implement the upgrades.

This was due to the inadequacy of resources to respond to what was becoming a ticking time bomb waiting to explode: The ever-growing congestion on the highways, particularly between Pretoria and Johannesburg, was reaching crisis proportions.

Business, in particular the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, had already expressed concern about the impact on business due to congestion and insufficient maintenance. Based on conservative assumptions, the Chamber said the cost of congestion on the former Ben Schoeman amounted to R15 m per hour. That excluded costs associated with:

• fuel and maintenance
• late freight deliveries
• lost business opportunities
• accident costs

The Automobile Association did its own study on the cost of the congestion and I would encourage you to look at it. [In the interest of] responsible government, we had to respond to this urgency in the manner in which we did.

We have learnt many lessons from this project, one of them being that it will take some time to reverse the legacy of colonialism and apartheid planning.

Apartheid spatial planning never envisaged a situation where Gauteng will be as populated as it is today, mainly due to the influx of people from different provinces for economic reasons. Government has made several concessions as part of our efforts to minimise the financial burden on the users of the Gauteng e-tolled road network.

Tariffs have been reduced and registered public transport exempted.

Treasury has allocated funds to the project to ensure reductions in the toll tariffs. We have moved from 66 cents per kilometer to the current 30 cents for light motor vehicles for registered road users who are in possession of an e-tag.

This is an indication that indeed this government cares for its people and has listened to the concerns raised by the public.

Many things have been said about the chosen method of collection, the User-Pays principle. Despite this being a tried and tested method on other services provided by the state, some people cast aspersions over the correctness of our decision.

We wish to assure South Africans that we have applied our minds thoroughly before arriving at the decision of selecting the electronic method of collection. Urban tolling can only work well through an electronic collection system given the traffic volumes that form part of busy metropolitans such as we have in Gauteng.

There's a continuous need to work on de congesting roads to allow the smooth flow of traffic.

Gauteng is the economic hub our country and occupies a prominent place on our continent. It offers a lot of potential for economic growth. Its full potential can only be realised if we ensure that the province has the necessary infrastructure required to exploit its full potential.

Good roads are not an exception in this regard. We agree with Cosatu and other organisations that the debate needs to be elevated to serious discussions aimed at finding means to fund the much needed transport infrastructure in our country.

How do we address the current road infrastructure backlog amounting to R150 bn? How do we mobilise funds to ensure that these roads receive regular maintenance beyond construction to ensure longevity? What is the role of private sector capital in helping fund the country's infrastructure needs? How do we ensure the availability of efficient, reliable and safe public transport system?

These are the questions we need to debate in a more rational manner. We are currently going through a review process, taking stock of our successes in the past 19 years of freedom and doing a through reflection of the challenges that remain unattended. Today we have invited you to announce several milestones reached in recent months as we prepared for the implementation of the project.

You will recall that the President recently gave assent to the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Act, the legal framework required for the success full implementation of the project. We recently concluded the process of determining the toll tariffs following a month-long of public comments.

Members of the public were required to submit written comments to the Department of Transport. I have since given consideration to the submissions sent to us. I have made the final determination on the toll tariffs and you will see these in the memory sticks containing the gazette.

I have further determined that tolling on the designated sections of Gauteng Highways will commence on 3 December 2013.

SANRAL should be allowed to start collecting toll fees in order to begin to repay the debt incurred when the roads were upgraded.

We cannot afford to continue to expose SANRAL's portfolio to any further financial risks, having suffered two downgrades by international credit rating institutions.

We wish to thank those who have already registered and are in possession of their e-tags. We encourage motorists who haven't registered to do so. Unregistered motorists will be levied almost double the cost per kilometer.

You also need to register in order to have access to the discounts offered by SANRAL.

I thank you!

Issued by the Department of Transport, November 20 2013

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