South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) delays e-toll launch

The South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) has announced that the e-tolling in Gauteng would not commence in February as previously planned.

The agency was exploring other modalities which would be presented to national Transport Minister Sbusiso Ndebele for consideration. The agency stated that the board will look to address issues raised by the public and attend to the petitions forwarded.

Early in the week SANRAL said that over 200 000 Gauteng e-toll account units had been registered for phase one of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP).

Light motor vehicles are expected to be charged R0.40/km, medium vehicles R1/km, "longer" vehicles R2/km, and bikers R0.24/km.

Qualifying commuter taxis and buses would be exempted entirely.

Gauteng e-toll tags will be operational only at the Bakwena toll plaza from February.

GFIP phase one was undertaken at a cost of around R20 billion to complete, with most of it financed from loans.