E-toll bill awaits nod from parliament

Cape Town - The transport laws and related matters amendment bill has been sent off to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), where it needs to be passed before returning to the National Assembly, a report said on Thursday.

In March the National Assembly approved the bill, which paves the way for putting e-tolling on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) into practice.

“The bill will then be sent on to the president for consideration. If the president signs it into law, the Minister (of Transport Ben Martins) immediately assumes the mandate to implement that legislation," transport department spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso told The New Age newspaper.

“The minister will then make a comprehensive announcement on the implementation of the e-toll project,” Rikhotso said.

Should Martins announce the new e-toll tariffs, a period of 14 days must pass before e-tolling can begin, the report said.

Martins told parliament in March that the bill is important to enhance the implementation of the electronic toll collection system. He also insisted that without the GFIP, traffic on Gauteng's freeways would have continued to escalate.

Martins rejected calls for e-tolling to be scrapped, saying the non-collection of tolls might impact negatively on the ability of the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) to raise capital for infrastructure development projects.

Inability to collect revenue would also damage Sanral's credit reputation among investors, and could negatively affect its own and government's international ratings.

(Additional reporting: Sapa)