E-tolls: National Treasury needs to set the record straight in Parliament

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is disappointed that National Treasury has taken a decision not to engage with Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance around the fiscal implications of the halt in the e-tolling project.

Questions around the e-tolling project are urgent and in the public interest. Such questions include:

• What will be the effect on the fiscal framework and key debt-to-GDP numbers if National Treasury has to provide a backstop of taxpayers' money for all of the South African National Roads Agency Limited's (SANRAL) debt?
• If government has to step in to provide a backstop, what are the implications for other debt issued by state-owned enterprises? Should it be regarded as a contingent liability for the national fiscus?
• If government does not provide a backstop then what is the status of R8bn worth of unguaranteed government pensions invested in the project?
• What would such a decision mean for the creditworthiness of other state owned enterprises that have gone to the bond market?
• How SANRAL's debt will be serviced in the absence of toll collection?
• Why SANRAL continues to draw a cloak of secrecy over subcontracting relating to e-tolls whilst South Africans are clearly looking for answers on who ultimately benefitted from the tolls and whether subcontracting processes adhered to all Treasury regulations?

Tomorrow I will appeal to the Portfolio Committee Chair to allow these questions in the public interest.

National Treasury needs to set the record straight and provide certainty to the market on the fiscal implications of the halt in e-tolling. Parliament's Finance committee is the appropriate forum for them to do so.

Statement issued by Tim Harris MP, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, May 7 2012

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