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Cape Town - Toll road tariffs should be coming down and not being increased, the Cape Chamber Commerce and Industry said on Tuesday.
The chamber was responding to an announcement by the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) that all toll fees, except the improved Gauteng freeways, are to be increased by 5.8%.
“The whole idea behind toll roads was to raise money to pay for the massive capital costs for new projects, but these costs actually decrease as we pay off the old loans,” explained Janine Myburgh, president of the chamber.
“It is like the bond on your house. When you start you spend a quarter of your salary on bond repayments every month. After a dozen years or so it becomes much easier as your salary goes up and the bond begins to look a lot smaller in relation to current house prices.”
She pointed out that the Hugenot Tunnel near Paarl in the Western Cape was 26 years old and could well have been paid for by now.
“If there is an outstanding bond it must be very small, so I really don’t understand why we have to pay more,” said Myburgh.
Operation and maintenance costs had increased, but there had been a massive increase in traffic volumes, especially the heavy trucks which pay high toll fees.
A similar situation existed with other old told roads like the one through Nature’s Valley in the Eastern Cape.
Capital cost recovered
Peter Hugo, chairman of the chamber’s transport portfolio committee, said it was normal practice in developed countries to scrap toll fees once the capital cost of the road had been recovered.
“They use a system called Bots where the contractor builds the road, operates it for 20 or so years, depending on the contract," said Hugo.
"Then toll fees fall away and the road is transferred to the public authorities.”
He said if there was to be an increase in toll fees it should be justified.
“We need to look at the income from toll fees and then at the expenses and the loan repayments," he said.
The inflation rate cannot be used to justify increases as, in his view, this is a "lazy and irrational" approach.
"To continue charging after the project has been paid for means toll fees are now just another form of tax," said Hugo.
"There are some good arguments for the ‘user pays’ system, but in this case the user has paid,” said Hugo.
In March this year Sanral said Ventilation in the Huguenot tunnel cannot be upgraded unless the proposed N1/N2 Cape Winelands Highway Project goes ahead.
Sanral's main plan was to open a second tunnel to allow for two separate passages carrying traffic flowing in opposite directions.
Last year the chamber suggested that the real reason why Sanral was so keen to go ahead with the N1 and N2 toll roads in the Cape was that it needed income from these tolls to subsidise what the chamber calls the "disastrous" Gauteng Freeway Project.
The chamber was responding to an announcement by the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) that all toll fees, except the improved Gauteng freeways, are to be increased by 5.8%.
“The whole idea behind toll roads was to raise money to pay for the massive capital costs for new projects, but these costs actually decrease as we pay off the old loans,” explained Janine Myburgh, president of the chamber.
“It is like the bond on your house. When you start you spend a quarter of your salary on bond repayments every month. After a dozen years or so it becomes much easier as your salary goes up and the bond begins to look a lot smaller in relation to current house prices.”
She pointed out that the Hugenot Tunnel near Paarl in the Western Cape was 26 years old and could well have been paid for by now.
“If there is an outstanding bond it must be very small, so I really don’t understand why we have to pay more,” said Myburgh.
Operation and maintenance costs had increased, but there had been a massive increase in traffic volumes, especially the heavy trucks which pay high toll fees.
A similar situation existed with other old told roads like the one through Nature’s Valley in the Eastern Cape.
Capital cost recovered
Peter Hugo, chairman of the chamber’s transport portfolio committee, said it was normal practice in developed countries to scrap toll fees once the capital cost of the road had been recovered.
“They use a system called Bots where the contractor builds the road, operates it for 20 or so years, depending on the contract," said Hugo.
"Then toll fees fall away and the road is transferred to the public authorities.”
He said if there was to be an increase in toll fees it should be justified.
“We need to look at the income from toll fees and then at the expenses and the loan repayments," he said.
The inflation rate cannot be used to justify increases as, in his view, this is a "lazy and irrational" approach.
"To continue charging after the project has been paid for means toll fees are now just another form of tax," said Hugo.
"There are some good arguments for the ‘user pays’ system, but in this case the user has paid,” said Hugo.
In March this year Sanral said Ventilation in the Huguenot tunnel cannot be upgraded unless the proposed N1/N2 Cape Winelands Highway Project goes ahead.
Sanral's main plan was to open a second tunnel to allow for two separate passages carrying traffic flowing in opposite directions.
Last year the chamber suggested that the real reason why Sanral was so keen to go ahead with the N1 and N2 toll roads in the Cape was that it needed income from these tolls to subsidise what the chamber calls the "disastrous" Gauteng Freeway Project.
