Johannesburg - An Austrian company that won the bid to build
and operate Gauteng's e-tolling system made R1.2bn in one year from its South
African operations, The Star reported on Tuesday.
According to Kapsch Traffic-Com's 2010/11 annual report,
released in March last year, it made R1.2bn in South Africa from traffic and
parking fines and sales of e-tags. This year's report has not yet been
released.
The company initially won the tender to operate the
e-tolling project in a consortium with Cape Town company TMT Services and
Supplies. A few months after the tender was awarded, Kapsch bought the majority
shares in TMT for R75m. TMT was involved in traffic law enforcement.
The contract to run the tolls runs for eight years.
"TMT Services and Supplies engages in projects for
traffic monitoring... including speed monitoring in Gauteng and the Mpumalanga
province," the newspaper reported.
Congress of SA Trade Unions spokesperson Patrick Craven told
the newspaper the organisation was opposed to the privatisation of public
roads.
"They should not be there for a private company like
Kapsch to make money at the expense of the people of Gauteng."
Automobile Association spokesperson Gary Ronald said the high
revenue was "scary", considering the number of vehicles compared to
other countries Kapsch operated in.
"There are only 10 million vehicles in South Africa,
four million in Gauteng. Is this the amount of money they can make from just
185km of road?" he asked.
Tolling of major roads in Gauteng was scheduled to start on
April 30.