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It seems that the toll roads are going ahead, because we are all getting urged to go and buy our e-tags and get ready for them, even though the public consultation has not even finished taking place! An interview I heard indicated that the public consultation will be taking part for other roads, but some of the roads have already been financed by borrowings, those moneys have to be repaid and so the tolls have to start. Ultimately, however they disguise the payments, they are all additional taxes, and although our taxes are not as high as many countries in the world, they are already very high. This puts more and more pressure on all of us and together with escalating petrol prices leading to the cost of transport rising – and ultimately the food in the shops, which has to be transported there, is also going to cost more.
Posted by Michael de Broglio on Wednesday 16-Nov-11
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Comments
Shane said:
on Wednesday 23-Nov-11 04:33 PM
SANRAL has to repay 17.4bn in loans taken to fund the highway projects which covers about 560km no national roads, in Gauteng. So the loans have to be repaid somehow by the public. The Minister in my opinion and others has been fair to public transport to be exempt, but the projects must still paid for. To put it more into prospective South African has a backlog of 149bn in road infrastructure. SANRAL has managed to raise additional funds of 300m a month in order to complete some of its building projects. The current fuel levies of 1bn a year do not cover the short fall and therefore, additional funds need to be raised. During public participation everyone argued the fact that the tolling system was too high and ring-fencing the fuel levies would be a cheaper way to fund the roads. But if you raise additional fuel levies you need to raise the fuel prices which the public cry out once again. To conclude we need to pay for the great highway system that make life so much easier. The road building projects budgets already have forecasted 1bn shortfalls per year in the next two fiscal years. If SANRAL has no cash public will once again cry out and say the government is corrupt and all there are no funds for road infrastructure. This is just my opinion, research, from Business day and IOL.
Corne B said:
on Tuesday 22-Nov-11 01:36 PM
There is some people that say it is actually a good think because onther countries have it but,difference between first world countries and us is that they actually get something for their taxes/tolls etc- we pay all this money and then on top of that have to pay for schooling, medical aid, workers/injury compensation, private security firms etc
What I would like to know is how much they project to earn from this annually
Lucretia said:
on Wednesday 16-Nov-11 02:27 PM
If anyone really thought the tolls were not going to go ahead, they were fooling themselves. Once the government has made up their mind, nothing changes it, regardless of peoples opinions.
elaine said:
on Wednesday 16-Nov-11 02:05 PM
this is just another money making racket for an incompetent goverment to suck more money for the them to sqander on themselves and there "families" my husband works the otherside of pretoria and has to travel from alberton everyday,it's already costing a fortune in diesel never mind licencing fees etc, we will not be registering as they call it for e tags and if everybody does the same what are they going to do?
Genevieve said:
on Wednesday 16-Nov-11 01:56 PM
I refer to Jessica's comment. The thing is, everyone is going to go back routes, and this will then cause more traffic problems, and the government will then start putting some "toll gate" system on the back roads too. Either way, we are obliged to pay.
Genevieve said:
on Wednesday 16-Nov-11 01:53 PM
And taxi's and busses are excluded from this if I am not mistaken. It is just becoming more and more impossible to travel anywhere and this will then ultimately affect the economy as well.
Lizanne said:
on Wednesday 16-Nov-11 01:42 PM
This is ridiculous! There are so many people that can hardly afford to get to work and back and to support their families with what they have now. How difficult will it not be if this comes in working in February 2012, i believe. I also heard that this system does not count for public transport. Anything on that?
Johannesburg based attorney specializing in personal injury matters including Road Accident Fund claims and medical negligence matters. My interests include golf, reading and the internet and the way it is constantly developing. I have a passion for life and a desire for less stress!
