DA Shadow Minister of Transport, Ian Ollis, has called on\u00a0the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) and the Department of Transport to clarify how e-tolling was pursued in South Africa despite evidence existing that the project has not been successful in other countries, such as Portugal.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued today (1 July 2013), Ollis refers to reports\u00a0of Portugal’s ailing e-toll project that emerged last week which said that\u00a0lower than expected revenue from e-tolls has made Portugal’s so unsustainable that the country\u2019s road chief has warned that there will not be enough money for road maintenance.<\/p>\n
Portuguese road agency Estradas de Portgual chief, Ant\u00f3nio Ramalho, reportedly said that the agency failed to collect more than \u20ac30 million (\u00b1R386 million) from e-toll transgressors.<\/p>\n
“They found that on average 19% of toll-road users fail to pay for using the toll roads and that e-tolls have effectively forced thousands of cars onto secondary roads,” Ollis said. “He further admitted that expected revenue from e-tolls is far below those anticipated by initial studies.”<\/p>\n
Ollis relayed statistics which indicate that failure to pay, amongst others, has increased administrative fees from \u20ac17 million (\u00b1R218 million) in 2011, to \u20ac42 million (\u00b1R540 million) in 2012.<\/p>\n
According to Ollis, Portugal\u2019s e-tolling failure is clear evidence that e-tolling does not work.<\/p>\n
“It can only be deduced from South Africa\u2019s failure to learn from Portugal\u2019s e-tolling woes, that neither SANRAL nor the Department of Transport conducted thorough research into the viability of e-tolling,” Ollis said. “If they did, they negligently opted to ignore the Portuguese example.”<\/p>\n
Ollis said that contrary to SANRAL\u2019s repeated assertions, e-tolling does not create funding for road maintenance. All it will do is to create a massive administrative burden, undermine economic growth, hurt the poor, and ultimately result in job losses, Ollis said.<\/p>\n
“The Department of Transport and SANRAL now need to do the right thing and abandon e-tolling,” he concluded.<\/p>\n
Not buying an e-tag?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n SANRAL suprised by call for e-toll documents<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n R664-million overseas e-toll bill shocks and appals<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Mark Shuttleworth takes SA government to court<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n