Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi says switching off of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) gantries, popularly known as e-tolls, will be gazetted soon.
Lesufi made the comments while delivering his inaugural State of the Province Address at the Johannesburg City Hall yesterday.
“Residents of Gauteng, we are pleased to report that e-tolls have been scrapped permanently in our province,” said the premier.
Lesufi indicated that a joint announcement, together with the ministers of finance and transport, will be made in this regard.
“Together with national government, we are on the verge of agreeing on all matters that will finally allow us to gazette switching off the gantries; but most importantly to agree on the debt repayment methods and money collected from paying customers, as well as funds not collected from non-paying customers.
“We are of the strong view that this chapter, this part of history in our province, will now be finally buried and we will continue with our lives without e-tolls in this province.”
Despite public resistance, roads agency Sanral moved ahead with plans to introduce e-tolling on the Gauteng freeway system on 3 December 2013.
Sanral previously contracted the Electronic Toll Collection Company to collect e-toll payments on its behalf. However, the task was not without its fair share of challenges, egged on by ongoing resistance from motorists.
In a July 2022 report by Moneyweb, it revealed there was “an average 17.7% e-toll payment compliance rate on GFIP in the first six months of 2022”.
Implementing e-tolls in Gauteng also received push back from the Gauteng region of the Department of Roads and Transport, with mounting calls for it to be halted.
Last year, National Treasury allocated R23.7 billion to Sanral to settle its e-tolls debt, on condition it meets certain requirements.
At the time, finance minister Enoch Godongwana said the uncertainty surrounding the GFIP continued to have negative implications for road construction in the country.
“We need to move on from the debates of previous years and find solutions to this challenge. To resolve the funding impasse, the Gauteng provincial government has agreed to contribute 30% to settling Sanral’s debt and interest obligations, while national government covers 70%,” revealed Godongwana.
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