E-tolling is the only effective funding model to improve Gauteng’s road infrastructure, Consulting Engineers South Africa (Cesa) said on Thursday.
“The only pragmatic way of retaining funding for the Gauteng freeway was through … the e-toll system,” contractual affairs manager Wallace Mayne said.
“To Cesa, it might be inefficient but it’s the only way… No one has explained it to the people. There really is no choice.”
Cesa, a business representative body for over 500 consulting engineer firms was making a presentation to the advisory panel on e-tolls and its socio-economic impact in Midrand.
E-tolling was the only realistic option to fund Gauteng’s road infrastructure since the national fiscus was severely stretched.
“The fiscus is severely stretched. It cannot fund this and will not,” Mayne said.
Transport was “way down” on government’s priority list, with education and health being higher up, as examples.
The panel will focus on the implications and perceptions of financing the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) and e-tolls.
On Monday, the Gauteng provincial government announced the panel would embark on a month-long consultation process, starting on Wednesday, with organisations and individuals.
Organisations were invited to make submissions on the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the GFIP and e-tolls, and how e-tolling’s costs and benefits were distributed across society and the economy.
The panel was expected to report to premier David Makhura at the end of November. — Sapa
