On The Road To A Fair Deal

Publication date: 20 November 2007

Motorists in South Africa should not have to bear the full cost of the country's road infrastructure, according to the national auto club.

The South African National Roads Agency is planning to initiate toll collection on six major arterial national routes between the major cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, and the surrounding regions. To achieve this, the status of these routes needs to be changed under South African law to allow for concessions to be awarded to toll operators.

The car sales boom of the past three years has seen increasing congestion on these routes, and the N1 link between Johannesburg and Pretoria alone carries around 180,000 trips in either direction per day. This has prompted the authorities to consider alternative means to finance upgrades to these existing routes, as well as the building of additional roads.

AA South Africa (AASA) has taken the view that existing roads should not attract tolling at all. New road infrastructure can attract tolls, but on the basis that a build, operate and transfer model be applied, with transfer back to the government as soon as the cost of the infrastructure has been paid for.

While recognising the need for developing road infrastructures, AASA is also concerned at the increased cost of motoring. Most commodities travel by road in South Africa and any additional transportation costs are inevitably passed on to the consumer. The toll experience in South Africa has not been a good one, and on certain routes toll fee increases have already more than doubled the cost of travel for motorists.

In submitting its objection to the proposed tolling system, AASA has again urged the government to establish a dedicated road fund via a levy on fuel sales. A contribution of just one cent per litre of fuel sold would raise around ZAR200 million ($29 million) per year, exclusive of other revenues collected through vehicle licencing or general income tax. In effect, the "user pay" principle would still apply, but would benefit the country as a whole and not just one region.

At a macro level the AASA is concerned over the lack of evidence to suggest that alternative methods of subsidising the roads network in South Africa have been extensively explored. It is also ofcritical importance that the government establishes a clear and supported policy in balancing what it spends on national roads, and what is considered necessary to be spent on the upgrading of secondary and tertiary roads in urban areas, as well as underprivileged township areas.

It should be noted that the current annual cost of road crashes in South Africa is estimated at ZAR48 billion ($7 billion), which equates to 3.3 per cent of GDP. So at the same time, the AASA is urging the government to put in place a realistic and concerted road safety effort. This will reduce the staggering cost to the economy, and save lives. And reducing crashes should allow the money saved to be best utilised on the road maintenance environment.

Indeed, in terms of global road safety AASA has been an active campaigner. From the end of November 2007 to March 2008, a concerted effort will be made to collect as many signatures for the Make Roads Safe campaign as possible, to add to those already collected worldwide.