The first phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), which will introduce an e-toll system to most of Gauteng’s highways, is continuing as planned and will go live in February, South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) corporate communications manager Priya Pillay said on Monday.

This followed an announcement from Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele over the weekend that Sanral was instructed to halt all processes related to the tolling of national roads, in order to allow a consultative process to share views on the toll road programme.

While South Africa required good road infrastructure to meet its economic growth targets, Ndebele said that it should not place a huge financial burden on the shoulders of consumers.

In light of the significant cost implications for the general populace and business in particular, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) welcomed the Minister’s decision, stating support and the general buy-in of affected parties would be key to success.

Busa also said the Transport Department should reconsider the viability of open road tolling systems in urban areas. “The concentrated nature of our economy means that this will result in certain downstream cost multiplication, which will affect the cost competitiveness of our economy and impact poor consumers.”

In terms of the GFIP, the government steering committee recommended a proposed toll tariff fee of 24c/km for motorcycles, 40c/km for cars, R1/km for medium trucks R2/km for heavy trucks.

The Road Freight Association said toll fee tariffs, approved by Cabinet in August, were still “too expensive”, and using various real-life examples, the association noted that medium-size and big trucks would end up seeing an 11% increase in costs for deliveries made in Gauteng.

Sanral hoped that under Ndebele’s leadership, a sustainable solution would be found to ensure an appropriate financial instrument would be applied.

“Where the user-pay principle is found to be the appropriate instrument, it will be selectively used in the expansion and upgrading of the national road network,” Pillay said.

Sanral is responsible for the proclaimed national road network of 16 170 km including 8 000 large bridges and culverts; however, toll roads accounted for less than 20% of the road network.

Cabinet recently appointed a task team that includes Ndebele and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to look into the issue of toll roads.

Busa said inclusion of National Treasury in the Ministerial task team was necessary, as current rising trends in the costs of doing business in South Africa required careful reconsideration of infrastructure provision and the way maintenance were funded.

Meanwhile, Avis CE Wayne Duvenage called for an efficient and transparent means of funding.

“What Sanral seems to overlook is that tolling is another form of tax and their continued argument of a "user pays principal" does not hold water when it comes to urban routes.

“These are the daily "bread-earning" routes, which the public traverse to get to work, a very different and ethical issue to that of tolling a long distance route that one may infrequently travel to go on holiday or an odd trip,” he added.