Nelspruit - Six years ago, roads agency Sanral opened a new 20km section of the N4 toll road - but forgot to sign off the paperwork to make it a legal toll road until last week.
The road is the northern bypass around Mbombela (Nelspruit) in Mpumalanga, which was built to replace the old section of the N4 that ran through the town.
The N4 toll route links Gauteng and the port of Maputo in Mozambique, and is operated by Trans African Concessions (Trac), which in 1997 won a 30-year concession to build, operate, maintain and expand the route.
There is no toll station on the bypass but it is part of the N4 route and runs as a toll road. Tolls may be collected only on or for roads that have been declared as toll roads.
Last week, Sanral gazetted the notice, turning the N4 bypass into a toll road. The notice was signed by Sanral chief executive Nazir Alli, who announced his retirement a year ago but has remained in his position.
The bypass took two years to build and runs from Riverside farm in the west, north around the town, to rejoin the old N4 at Karino farm in the east. It opened in June 2010.
Sanral had listed the cost of the project as R750 million and said it had been a huge challenge for engineers who had to build 17 bridges, including a 316m bridge over the Crocodile River where contractors often had to brave hippos and crocodiles.
This week, Sanral confirmed that the bypass was part of the N4 concession but wouldn’t explain why the paperwork had apparently been forgotten, commenting only on the need for the bypass, which carries about 4000 vehicles a day.
“The new N4 was included in the N4 concession, and in order for the continued maintenance and operations of the route under the concession, it had to be declared as a toll road section.
“This is merely an administrative requirement and did not result in any additional toll plazas or increased toll tariffs as a result of the construction of this route,” said Sanral spokesman Vusi Mona.
He said funds for the route came from Sanral and the 2010 Public Transport Infrastructure and Systems grant.
The grant was for infrastructure upgrades linked to the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
Sanral has separate funding arrangements for toll roads and non-toll roads, and may not mix these.
Mona would not say whether the Sanral funding for the bypass was from the toll or non-toll funding.
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