[May 2013..Dec 2013] The Gauteng E-tolling Thread

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AlphaBravo said:
Yup, they sell fuel to SA at the OPEC linked rate. Nice business to have.
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Yeah the article that I mentioned above shows that CTL is profitable at something like $45 a barrel, we are almost at double that.
 
OUTA CONCERNED GFIP COLLUSION FINES TOO LOW

OUTA welcomes the announcement on Monday by the Competition Commission, which fined 15 construction groups a collective total of R1.46bn to settle a multiyear investigation of bid rigging. It is, however, noted that the settlement at 5% of the estimated R30bn in project value, falls well short of the 10% of turnover guideline without adjusting for inflation since around 2009.

Reports further indicate that the collusive behavior impacted the construction of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), which SANRAL now plans to Toll in order to fund these costly upgrades. OUTA calls upon the Competition Commission to release details of the extent of the collusion on the GFIP project and further calls for part of the R1,46bn fine to be allocated to SANRAL’s repayment of GFIP. The public should not have to carry the implications of past collusive pricing, into the future.

OUTA has also noted the lack of response, to date, from SANRAL who we would have expected to be outraged by the collusive behaviour related to the GFIP projects. One wonders how SANRAL, who are supposed to be experts at road construction pricing, allowed such collusive behavior to go unnoticed or unchallenged at the time of the GFIP tender process. This decision comes only a few weeks after we learnt of the forecasted annual R670m earnings by Kapsch Trafficom for its share of the Gauteng eToll collection services,which equates to as high as 40% of the estimated eToll collection costs to society.

OUTA wishes to remind SANRAL and its spokesperson Mr Vusi Mona that the eToll decision by the Con Court in September 2012 overturned only the interdict against SANRAL to launch eTolling, which is a completely separate legal matter to the merits of the decision to proceed with eTolling, which will be tested at the Supreme Court of Appeal in September this year. Mr Mona, in his recent comments, appears to not recognise the critical difference nor, for that matter, cannot explain why SANRAL has delayed their eToll launch for over nine months since the September 2012 Con Court case, despite SANRAL’s court testimony which clearly indicated their need and intention to start tolling within two weeks of the interdict being set aside. The regulatory framework is part of the entire process and is still fraught with challenges, some two years after SANRAL’s initial eToll launch dates in 2011.

Indeed, Mr Mona should also take note of the fact that SANRAL had lacked transparency in its dealing with regard to GFIP contract documents presented to COSATU in 2011, which had many pages blanked out. In a more recent court interdict in the Western Cape, SANRAL was stopped in its tracks from forging ahead with tolling plans in that region, due to amongst other things, a lack of transparency on costs and information required for public engagement.

Furthermore, SANRAL has lost in other legal matters before various courts around the country, including the outcome of the HMKL case last year (which resulted in the moving of the Centurion gantry due to the lack of legal compliance to the Environmental Impact Assessment process) and in the KZN South Coast toll concession tender case. These incidents are not smoke nor allegation but fact.

Wayne Duvenage, the Chairperson of OUTA commented that he was “sad to see how the integrity of a once respectable state owned entity such as SANRAL has been tarnished over the past few years, as a result of the GFIP process which has been characterised by high costs, a lack of transparency and irrational decision making. We are hopeful that OUTA’s Supreme Court of Appeal hearing in three month’s time, will finally demonstrate the shocking extent of this matter which has been nothing short of a sheer lack of respect for the citizens of this country.”
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source
 
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My own 0.05c worth of tribbles into this juicy stew pot...

If the Post Office can't serve AARTO notices on time, what will the chances be that they will be able to serve toll levies etc on time?

:rolleyes: Yeah right.
 
Low Turn Out for Drive Slow

Cosatu's fight against Gauteng's e-tolls continued on Tuesday with another drive-slow campaign along the major routes in and out of Pretoria.

SABC radio news reported that less than 20 motorists were participating. The Congress of SA Trade Unions' Dumisani Dakile, however, said the protest was "going very well".

"The effect this is having is very powerful," he said.

The drive-slow started in Hatfield next to McDonald's, proceeded east on the N4, south on the N1, and then onto the R21 towards the airport, taking the off-ramp at Olifantsfontein. It would re-join the R21 north to Pretoria and end at Fountains Valley in Eufees Road.

Dakile said once the protesters were done, they would asses the situation and decide on a way forward.

"We are considering embarking on a strike across the province on Friday.

"We will meet tomorrow [Wednesday] to discuss all the logistics, such as where will we assemble and where we will be going," he said.


Source : Sapa /kn/th/ks/jk
Date : 02 Jul 2013 13:25
 
I still find it very frightening that my motives are starting to align with those of COSATU.
 
The_Librarian said:
If the Post Office can't serve AARTO notices on time, what will the chances be that they will be able to serve toll levies etc on time?

:rolleyes: Yeah right.
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Didn't you hear about the proposed changes to allow AARTO notices to be delivered via email?

Draft legislation could pave the way for the state to e-mail road traffic fines to motorists, it was reported on Monday.
The proposed amendments suggested that the government was trying to change the original law precisely to enable e-mail notifications of fines
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http://mybroadband.co.za/news/internet/71698-traffic-fines-could-be-coming-via-email.html
 
Sinbad said:
That'll be awesome. /dev/null routing for all of these and they'll never prove delivery
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Knowing how these baffoons reason, they'll probably try to implement Microsoft's read-receipt, tracking mechanism and assume that it is a foolproof solution.
 
Public not fooled by E-toll Tarrifs: OUTA

The public is not fooled by the reduced e-toll tariffs, the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) said on Tuesday.

"They [the public] know the rate of today is not the rate of tomorrow," Outa chairman Wayne Duvenage said in a statement.

He Business Day reported on Monday that further cuts to tariffs were under consideration.

According to the newspaper, Transport Minister Ben Martins said in an interview last week his department was "working very hard" to find ways to soften the effect of e-tolling.

Duvenage questioned the timing of the possible tariff reductions.

"Have the collection costs suddenly been reduced, or is this a case of trying to force a thinner edge of the wedge into the door of public acceptance?" he asked.

"Sugar-coating the pill now merely prolongs that pain that society will have to endure later, unless of course there will be more transfers from Treasury under renegotiation of the contracts to significantly reduce the costs of collection."

He said the government was not noticing how people in countries like Egypt, Brazil and Turkey were standing up against governments which took their citizens for granted.

"Our government seems not to notice these developments and the possibility of similar incidents unfolding in South Africa," he said.

"Such protests will be detrimental to investor confidence and our fragile economy, yet they simply continue to ignore their people on this important issue and other matters."

On May 24, draft regulations and notices were published in the Government Gazette detailing how the tolls would work.

The regulations proposed a reduction of the R550 a month cap for cars to R450.


Source : Sapa /aa/hdw/th/clh
Date : 02 Jul 2013 16:55
 
... and SANRAL still refuses to let us (the people they expect to do the paying) see the contract/s for collection and distribution of tolls
they can fsk-off if they think I am going to pay easily
 
Very eloquently put Mr Duvenage.
I've already mapped out back routes, worked out fuel consumption, check if I can work flexi time, etc. to avoid the toll roads.
SANRAL will not see a single cent from me if I can help it.
 
SANRAL Advertising spend up 200%

Sanral's spending on advertising has increased 200 percent in the past two years, Transport Minister Ben Martins has indicated in a parliamentary reply.

He said in the reply on Wednesday that the SA National Roads Agency Limited's (Sanral) advertising expenditure increased from R30.4 million in 2010/11, to R84.5m in 2011/12 and R87.1m in 2012/13.

Democratic Alliance MP Ian Ollis said on Thursday the figures were a "clear indication" that Sanral had changed its advertising patterns from awareness campaigns to "mass e-toll propaganda".

"Full-page and half-page advertisements have appeared in most national newspapers, falsely arguing against alternative funding mechanisms for road maintenance and infrastructure, such as a fuel levy," Ollis said.

He said the DA would submit follow-up parliamentary questions requesting an exact cost breakdown of Sanral's advertising expenditure since the 2010/11 financial year.

"The public must not be fooled by Sanral's tacky spin," he said.

Sanral said the increase was budgeted for and included advertising for all its operations.

"Any new initiative such as e-tolling will accrue an increased advertising spend as it must be supported through marketing," it said.

"It is also very much part of driving public awareness and public participation... very similar to the DA's ‘know your DA campaign' or their notorious marketing spend to market their endeavours in the Western Cape."


Source : Sapa /aa/hdw/th/clh
Date : 04 Jul 2013 17:26
 
New Minister Must scrap E-tolls

The newly appointed transport minister must put an end to the highly contested e-tolling project, the DA said on Wednesday.

The party's provincial leader John Moodey said Dipuo Peters's immediate predecessors, Ben Martins and Sbu Ndebele, had relentlessly pushed through the tolls despite widespread concern.

"The Democratic Alliance in Gauteng calls on the new transport minister... to ditch the controversial e-tolling... minister Peters must take this opportunity and heed the public outcry and warning signs around the unworkable project," Moodey said in a statement.

He planned to write to Peters on Wednesday to request she urgently review the e-tolls and address concerns about the project's transparency and its real beneficiaries.

On Tuesday, President Jacob Zuma swapped the portfolios of the transport and energy ministers in a Cabinet reshuffle that left three ministers without a job.

Peters was given the post of transport minister and Ben Martins would be energy minister.

Dina Pule, Tokyo Sexwale, and Richard Baloyi were removed from the national executive in Zuma's fourth reshuffle since 2010.

Yunus Carrim replaced Pule as communications minister, Connie September took over from Sexwale as human settlements minister, and Lechesa Tsenoli replaced Richard Baloyi as co-operative governance minister.


Source : Sapa /mom/fg/ks/jk
Date : 10 Jul 2013 10:53
 
The newly appointed transport minister must put an end to the highly contested e-tolling project, the DA said on Wednesday.
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I understand what they [the DA] mean and what they are trying to do but do they honestly think that the new minister have a different agenda?

He's still puppet of the ANC and or a broom from the same closet, nothing has changed.
 
It appears naive from the DA to think that the new minister will handle this any differently. It is a plooy by the ANC to play for time as the new excuse will be that the new minister must first 'apply his mind' to get up to speed, blah blah blah, and then suddenly the e toll is operation and the minister is still applying his mind etc.
 
MKFrost said:
I understand what they [the DA] mean and what they are trying to do but do they honestly think that the new minister have a different agenda?

He's still puppet of the ANC and or a broom from the same closet, nothing has changed.
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She
 
Wyzak said:
Sasol is able to make fuel from coal, but they are restricted by law in the quantity that they are allowed to make. If that restriction is lifted South Africa can be self-sufficient on energy requirements.
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This is not true.
 
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