Cape Town - The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday congratulated the City of Cape Town for its legal victory against the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral).
“Congratulations to the City of Cape Town on its successful court bid to stop Sanral turning the N1 and the N2 into toll roads,” said the president of the chamber, Janine Myburgh.
This follows a Western Cape High Court ruling on Wednesday that Sanral’s decision to toll highways in the province be set aside.
The court also set aside the Transport Minister’s 2008 decision to declare sections of the N1 and N2 as toll roads.
“Sanral’s public participation programme was a farce,” said Myburgh.
“Every reputable organisation in Cape Town opposed the whole idea of creating toll roads within municipal boundaries, but the objections were swept aside.”
She added that if the public knew precisely how much the tolling would cost them, and how much it would impact poorer communities, they would have taken to the streets in protest.
Myburgh stated Sanral had failed to inquire sufficiently about fuel levies which she proposed could be used as an alternative to tolls and added that she hoped Sanral would now accept the court’s judgement and “not waste even more money on court appeals”.
ANA