More than two months have passed since 31 August cut- off date when Minister Mbalula had to come up with the solution to the e- toll problem in Gauteng. At the end of this month, the contract with electronic toll collection, ETC, company, Kapsch - a 100% foreign-owned company, will expire with no indication whether the SA National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, has or will extend the contract yet again.
This project contributes much to Sanral's R2,6 billion interest payments per year. So, where does the money come from? This year, R5,8 billion was removed from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Prasa, and general road maintenance budget to pay the Austrian-based company. Motorists' reluctance to pay means that this contract cost us R3,5 billion each year. The deal was dodgy from the beginning. The SA National Roads Agency Limited should have paid Kapsch R6,2 billion, but the agreed to pay R9,9 billion. They also overpaid on construction. What should have cost R9 billion, Sanral paid almost twice that amount. Government is playing tough by threatening local road users while millions of
rands pour into foreign-owned coffers each month. [Interjections.]