Johannesburg -Johannesburg - Funding mechanisms other than e-tolls will have to be found for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, transport MEC Ismail Vadi said on Talk Radio 702 on Friday.
"I can't predict what the recommendations of the E-toll Advisory Panel will be, but what is quite clear is that we are going to have to review the funding mechanism," he told host John Robbie.
"As a government, both at a provincial and national level, we are going to have to look at this matter more carefully and we are going to have to explore other funding options, whether it is going to be the fuel levy or not, I don't know.
"But the reality is we are going to have to see some other mechanism."
He said there was no doubt that the province would have to extend its highways if it wanted further economic growth.
"Sanity will prevail. We have to take an objective view; we need a reputable road network in our province - this is the most important economy, at least in Southern Africa and in this country, so we have to build a road network," he told Robbie.
"For that we need to get funding, and it is quite clear the e-toll system is not the way to go."
The ANC in Gauteng took a resolution at its elective conference over the weekend to oppose e-tolls in the province.
URBAN TOLLING UNFAIR TO DAILY USERS
On Thursday Inkatha Freedom Party Gauteng leader Bonginkosi Dlamini told the E-toll Advisory Panel the party was strongly opposed to the system.
It believed e-tolls were irrational and planned without the best interests of the people “being put at heart”.
The system would also have a negative impact on the general cost of living because, although taxis would be exempt, trucks delivering food would not.
Business people would also refrain from operating in the province as the e-tolls would add to their expenses.
Dlamini said the issue of improving roads arose as the country prepared for the 2010 Fifa World Cup and at the time the public welcomed it.
"They were not told they would be required to pay for it.”
The IFP had no issues with long-distance tolls collected through toll-gates and paid for manually, he said; its issue was with urban tolling. He called for a temporary halt to the system.
“Billing of people should be stopped while the system is being reviewed,” he said. "South Africa is capable of coming up with solutions and we shouldn't box ourselves in like there isn't an alternative."
The IFP proposed methods such as a fuel levy, contribution from the National Treasury, and a better bus and railway system.
IFP representative Nonhlanhla Makhoba said having a car in Gauteng was a necessity as the province's public transport system is not up to scratch.
"If the Gauteng public transport system was at a level where a person could decide to leave their car and use public transport, then it would be an option," she told the E-tolls Advisory Panel hearings in the Gauteng legislature.
Dlamini pointed out that having a car was also a necessity in the province to find employment, because some employers made it a requirement for even junior employees to have a car and a driving licence.
Gauteng premier David Makhura established the panel on July 17 to assess the social and economic impact of e-tolls.
The review panel is intended to examine the economic and social impact of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project and the electronic tolling system set up to fund it.
The panel is expected to present its findings to Makhura at the end of November.
Sapa