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Johannesburg - Plans for new toll roads around Cape Town, in
KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng are set to be shelved, City Press reported on
Sunday.
A "well-placed senior government source" told the
paper these projects - which included the second phase of the Gauteng freeway
improvement project - would not go ahead after mass protests organised by
Cosatu last week.
"The public protest was successful in this
respect," the source said.
Thousands of people joined protests on Wednesday against the
tolls.
The only new toll road which would proceed would be the N2
in the Eastern Cape. But only two toll booths would be built, one at each end
of the road, so local traffic would not have to pay.
But the Gauteng tolling scheme would not be scrapped
completely, City Press quoted its source as saying. Motorists would still need
to pay a toll to travel between Johannesburg and Pretoria. Tolling of the first
phase of the Gauteng project was expected to start on April 30.
"If we cancel this project, Sanral (the SA National Roads Agency) is liable for R37bn debt... We are just going to push ahead," the source told the paper.
