South Africa - Pretoria - 27 May 2021 - E-Tolls on the N1 highway near the Rigel rd offramp. Picture: Jacques Naude/African News Agency(ANA)
Johannesburg - According to Fred Nel, MPL, the DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Roads and Transport, "the Gauteng provincial government has no plans to end e-tolls, and there is a possibility that the e-toll contract will be extended once more", even though Premier Panyaza Lesufi has assured residents that e-tolls are a thing of the past.
Nel said: "The e-Toll contract has been renewed until the middle of June, and the extension of this contract means that the current debt owed for the e-toll gantries will increase and residents will continue to be billed for this unwanted system.
"It is worrying that there has been no further communication regarding the Gauteng provincial government’s (GPG) portion of the debt that needs to be paid.
"GPG has not yet finalised the financial model for the replacement of e-Tolls. This means that the province has committed to debt that it has no idea how to service."
Nel added that inevitably, funds would be taken away from other departments, and service delivery in the province would continue to suffer.
"The DA will be tabling questions to the MEC for Roads and Transport, Kedibone Diale, to determine what plans have been put in place since the announcement that e-Tolls have been scrapped. We will continue to fight any proposal for an additional tax on our residents," said Nel.
Attempts to get a comment from the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport proved fruitless.
The Star
Related Topics: