Johannesburg - The South African National Roads Agency Limited has told the e-toll review panel that it is broke – and has warned that the country would be in “serious trouble” if it was not able to pay the R20 billion debt.
Sanral chief executive Nazir Alli told the panel in Pretoria on Wednesday that the agency has “no new money” and has racked up R2bn in unpaid motorists’ bills with a compliance of just 30 percent.
“There is no subsidy on the tolls. If we default, South Africa will be in serious trouble,” he said, adding that the Gauteng e-tolling project cost about R20bn and the state had given Sanral only R10bn a year.
He said they could have used the budget they received over two years, but the roads would have been impossible to maintain. “That would have meant we can’t maintain a single millimetre of the road,” Alli said.
Sanral released a statement on Wednesday, blaming the review panel for negatively affecting the agency’s final bond auction for the year. “Investor confidence in Sanral has been negatively impacted by the uncertainty created by the Gauteng government’s decision to set up an e-toll review panel,” the statement read.
It sought to raise at least R500 million, as the next auction was scheduled only for February. “Even though total bids of R765m were received, the prices were much wider than the guidance, and therefore only R415m was allocated,” the agency said.
“BLEATING STATEMENTS”
The founder and chairman of the Justice Project SA, Howard Dembovsky, said it was “disingenuous” of Sanral to make such bleating statements about the payment of existing debt when no civic organisation had ever suggested that the debt not be repaid.
“Monies have been borrowed against a model that says you must repay over 20 or so years. It (the debt) has to be repaid, otherwise South Africa would indeed be in trouble. The problem is not that money is being spent, but the inefficiency of e-tolling,” he said.
“Had they implemented a roads levy on fuel, we wouldn’t be having this discussion right now. In fact, we said it would be 17 cents per litre to have debt repaid in a shorter space of time.”
On Tuesday, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said motorists could pay up to R3.65 a litre to repay the debt.
Dembovsky, who noted that Sanral made money through bond sales, questioned what the agency meant by saying it had no new money.
“What does that mean? If they are bankrupt, they won’t make another bond sale ever. Why on earth would they think it important to say this? We need to stop this haemorrhaging of cash. They have created this monster, but let’s adopt a grown up attitude and fix it,” he stated.
DA MPL Neil Campbell said on Wednesday that he empathised with Alli, but called the system a double taxation on citizens.
“The minister (Peters) is totally out of touch, as a fuel levy would not cost more than 11 cents. For them (Sanral) to come and say we must be sorry for them because they have no money is wrong.
“The government is responsible for making sure the economy functions; what they’re (Sanral) going to do is stifle the economy,” Campbell said.
Dembovsky said he saw only two solutions: a fuel levy, or having a conventional toll plaza at every gantry.
“Who will invest in Sanral if they say they have no money? The fact is, (Sanral) is a Ponzi scheme that’s collapsing,” he said.
Alli told the panel that only 8 percent (3 128km) of the 21 403km of road that was part of the national road network was tolled and the rest was free.
“Sanral is the first ever internationally to cap the tariff rates for the highway usage. All money that is raised through the fiscus is an additional rand that goes to the government. To be quite honest, there is just no new money available to cover the debt, therefore we need to look at how we divide this pie… that being the national budget,” he said.
The panel was established by Gauteng Premier David Makhura to examine the socio-economic impact of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project and the electronic tolling system set up to fund it.
The e-tolling system has been largely rejected, with many calling for it to be scrapped. Sanral has until Thursday to conclude its presentations.
The Star