Cape Town motorists will not have to pay as much as those in Gauteng when the city’s toll roads open, possibly early in 2012.
Transport and Public Works MEC Robin Carlisle said the city’s motorists would not have to pay the “ridiculous” fee per kilometre of 40c for light vehicles and 11c for commuter taxis announced in Gauteng. Estimates are that commuters on the road between Johannesburg and Pretoria will have to pay more than R900 a month.
Cape Town has yet to finalise how much motorists will pay. The Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project Steering Committee announced toll fees would be will be 40c/km for light vehicles and 11c for commuter taxis fitted with e-tags.
“Our intention is that fees be kept low. I appreciate that roads have to be maintained, but not by that ridiculous (toll) figure per kilometre (in Gauteng),” said Carlisle.
The transport ministry has made it clear that South African drivers will have to fork out extra towards the state’s R149-billion road maintenance shortfall.
Transport Minister S’bu Ndebele has noted that the price tag for maintenance backlogs had to cover the periodic resurfacing of the road network, the upgrading of gravel roads to tarred surfaces, adding new lanes to existing roads and the construction of new roads to ease congestion on busy routes.
In Cape Town, the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) is looking at upgrading three major roads at a cost of R14bn. According to Sanral, the N1, N2 and R300 will undergo significant improvements, with construction starting in March next year.
Both the N1 and N2 will be widened and an additional ramp off the N2 behind Somerset Mall, linking to Sir Lowry’s Pass, is also part of the plan.
In July last year Sanral agreed to shift two of its planned toll plazas some distance from densely populated areas in the Cape Metro.
In Gauteng, controversy has been raging for months over the toll fees. Toll tariffs were originally announcedin February but widespread criticism prompted Ndebele to stop the process while he consulted those affected, including taxi operators and long-haul transport companies, which warned the new fees would raise the cost of all consumer products, as these are transported mainly by road.
After consultations in March and April, the Department of Transport’s steering committee recommended that fees be set at:
- 24c/km from 30c/km for motorcycles.
- 40c/km from 49.5c/km for cars.
- R1/km from R1.49/km for small trucks.
- R2/km from R2.97/km for larger trucks and vehicles.
Taxis will be paying the lowest fee at 11c/km from 16.5c/km, while commuter buses will pay 36.3c/km from 50c/km.
This would mean Johannesburg motorists driving on the new toll road to and from Pretoria would have to pay at least R915.20 in tolls each month.
This applies only to motorists who buy monthly e-tags to fit on their cars.
Carlisle said tenders for the financial management and engineering of the Cape Metro toll roads were currently being adjudicated.
“An announcement will probably be made by October,” he said. -Cape Times