South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) Sanral’s tooling odyssey on the Gauteng highway has grounded to a halt after almost a decade.
The e-tolls on the highway were downright controversial, and drivers refused to pay them. The tolling was established in 2013, and successful enforcement would have provided revenue to maintain the highway. But it was met with resistance from the start.
Sanral had run into debts, unable to enforce the toll. Something the government indirectly acknowledged. As a result, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana touched on the subject during his 2022 Medium-term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in Parliament on Wednesday.
He pledged assistance from the national and Gauteng governments to deal with its R47 billion debt and went on to announce an R23.7 billion allocation to the agency. In all, the government will take care of 70 per cent of the debt, while the Gauteng government will clear the remaining 30 per cent.
Panyaza Lesufi, who recently took over as Gauteng Premier, confirmed the words of the finance minister. He describes it as an important victory in that it brings relief to the people of Gauteng.
It’s unclear how long it will take to clear the debt, but as one analyst has noted, it should be soon enough since responsibilities have been taken for it.
