Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg has come out in strong support of his South African counterpart, Pravin Gordhan, on the issue of moving ahead with the electronic tolling of Gauteng’s motorways.

Borg, who the Financial Times ranked last year as Europe’s top Finance Minister, told South African journalists on Tuesday that the financing of infrastructure through “direct payment”, possibly with some adjustments, was a “very logical idea”, especially for an economy that needed to grow its capital stock.

He noted that similar systems had been deployed in two Swedish cities, Stockholm and Gothenburg, with the initial roll-out in Stockholm having caused a similar backlash. However, the deployment of e-tolling on a new road tunnel in Gothenburg had been far less controversial.

“I know that this is a very sensitive domestic issue,” he said on the sidelines of an interaction organised by the South African Institute of International Affairs, in Johannesburg.

“For the credibility of the investments, it would obviously be very good if this problem could be sorted out in such a way that a compromise was found that fulfils the need to adjust, but also makes the project work,” he said.

Borg also stressed the importance of being able to exercise fiscal policy choices in a way that maintained macroeconomic stability.

“The importance of the fact that you have a central bank and a Minster of Finance that keeps the house in order cannot be underestimated.

“If you want to create an economic mess, undermine stability. If you have stability, you can do other things. If you don’t have stability, that’s the only issue that has to be dealt with,” Borg cautioned when explaining his support for Gordhan’s “very responsible” fiscal policy actions.

Gordhan was leading government’s Constitutional Court application for leave to appeal against the interdict by the North Gauteng High Court preventing the South African National Roads Agency Limited from collecting tolls on the recenlty upgraded Gauteng motorways.

Borg’s comments also came only days before Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe was due to brief the media on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, following an update report to Cabinet by the Inter-Ministerial Committee which he chairs.

But opposition to the e-tolling remained fierce having united disparate social groups, from motorists and freight hauliers, to unions and business owners.

The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance, or Outa, which sought and gained the interdict on April 28, had already expressed disappointment at the government’s decision to appeal, describing the tolling plans as inefficient and unjustified.