Pretoria – The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) will abide by the judgment by the Constitutional Court on the Winelands N1/N2 toll project, the agency said on Sunday.
On Friday, the Constitutional Court dismissed Sanral's bid to have previous judgments by the Western Cape High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal set aside.
The two courts ruled Sanral's plans to toll roads in the Winelands and Cape Town were invalid.
The Constitutional Court’s ruling now means that Sanral will have to start a public participation process if it wants to go ahead with its plans to toll parts of the N1 and N2 in the Western Cape.
In a statement on Sunday, Sanral spokesman Vusi Mona said "over the past two months the roads agency has consistently stated that it is embarking on a new consultative approach with relevant stakeholders to find common ground on challenges that relate to road infrastructure development".
“As reaffirmed by our new CEO, we will continue to engage the City of Cape Town to find a solution to the growing congestion crisis in the Winelands area. Discussions with the city have already started,” he said.
Sanral was not only pursuing engagements with the Western Cape and City of Cape Town but with other municipalities and provinces, such as eThekwini, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and Free State to "unlock economic growth potential and contribute to regional development".
This was the new perspective within the roads agency which its recently appointed CEO Skhumbuzo Macozoma sought to ingrain. “Our Constitution requires of us, as the different spheres of government, to work together in order to deliver services to citizens,” Mona said.