The Department of Transport welcomes the enactment of the Transport Laws and Related Matters Amendment Bill by the President.
This positive development provides the necessary legal framework and paves way for the implementation of the Electronic Tolling system on selected highways in Gauteng, covering at least 200 kilometres of road network.
The Minister of Transport will now attend to the remaining procedural matters related to the implementation process.
These include the publication of final regulations, notices and toll tariffs; and determination of date of commencement.
The Minister is required by law to publish her final determination on regulations, notices and toll tariffs at least 30 days before the commencement of tolling.
The department will make an announcement regarding timeframes of the above-mentioned processes, including the commencement date of tolling once all these final processes have been concluded.
SANRAL has been ready for sometime to implement the project and the system has been running on the GFIP network minus the collection process for two years now, and has been working fully, including collection, on the Bakwena toll road network.
We believe that all these processes that have been underway in the past few of years, including consultation processes with stakeholders i.e. Cosatu, Outa, Religious formations, Road Freight Association, among others, were necessary to ensure a thorough process and consultative process.
We wish to further reaffirm cabinet's decision that public transport, (busses and mini-bus taxis) would be granted an exemption from paying tolls, relieving the poor from making this contribution to road infrastructure development.
It is also worth noting that at least 82% of motorists who travel regularly on the tolled road network will not pay more than R100 monthly, with a cap of R450 for frequent travellers.
The department urges motorists to register and get tagged in order for them to access discounts only applicable to tag holders.
