The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) said on Friday it "categorically" denied that there had been a "ballooning of costs" in terms of the original contract as awarded for the operations of the Gauteng Open Road Tolling project.
Reports this morning stated that the cost of operating Gauteng's toll roads may be as high as 14 billion rand - more than the 6.22 billion rand the roads agency said it would cost.
The state-owned national road agency also disputed the supposed increased amount of 14 billion rand reflected in the media as an "incorrect interpretation" that the original cost for this project had escalated.
"This amount is an escalation of the original project cost over the 10-year duration for this project," the agency said.
"The newspaper report, therefore, wrongly included future estimates related to contract price inflation, as well as added VAT, which compares it to the original contract amount, which excludes VAT, inflation and provisions. The original scope of works has never changed," it added.
Sanral said the application of contract price inflation was in accordance with international best practice as compiled by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers.
It also confirmed that the effect of inflation and VAT was accounted for in the financial model, which was applied to determine toll tariffs.
This financial model, it said, was recently independently audited by two international auditing companies, which concluded that the model was correct.
"Therefore this alleged 'ballooning of costs' does not affect the toll tariffs previously announced or that may be announced following the conclusion of the public participation process currently underway by the steering committee appointed by the minister of transport for the review of, among others, the proposed toll fees," the agency said.
"Sanral hereby clarifies the incorrect impression created in this morning's media with regard to the operational cost of the Gauteng Open Road Tolling project. It is unfortunate that the figures in the leaked document were misinterpreted, to reflect an increased amount, different to the original contract amount," it noted.
As was quoted in the media, Sanral previously indicated that the contract amount of 6.2 billion rand awarded excluded "...allowances for inflation, provisions, contingencies and VAT. Provisions are allowances for the procurement of parallel and support services for the implementation and operation of the Open Road Tolling system, such as the clearing/transaction fees, marketing and communication services, and utilities, etc." - I-Net Bridge