E-tolls not coming to KZN, yet

KZN is not set to get e-tolling in the near future, but this may change if traffic volumes.

Durban - KwaZulu-Natal is not set to get e-tolling in the near future, but this may change if the volumes of vehicles increases.

South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) chief executive Nazir Alli, speaking on Wednesday at a business presentation, said that the open road e-tolling system currently in place in Gauteng was not on the cards for the province.

“The boom down operation is to stay in KwaZulu-Natal. The open road tolling system that you see in Gauteng was introduced because of the volumes. Gauteng would have been one massive car park if we had the booms in place.” Alli said that this could change in the event more cars start to use the province's roads.

The tag system, known as “Shesa” was available at one lane of each of Sanral's tolls in KwaZulu-Natal, and was being well received. Alli, who faced questions from the city's business community, said that e-tolling had not resulted in a loss of jobs. He said that all those who work at the tolls are retrained and given other jobs in the event that the system is automated.

Speaking about the refusal to pay tolls, Alli said: “We cannot be supporting the erosion of law. We have a judiciary and we must learn to respect it.” He said that despite being taken to court by those opposed to the e-tolls, he said that Sanral had not been found wanting, especially when informing the public and users of Sanrals network.

Alli said that he believed that there needed to be more communication between the various parties involved in the country's road network. “I don't believe that we have sufficient dialogue between government, business and labour.” He said that Sanral was not opposed to a better rail network, but that road and rail should complement each other.

There were some cargoes that in his opinion should not be allowed on the country's roads and would be better transported by rail.

“I wish our railways would improve. There are certain types of goods that should not be on the roads.” He referred to a recent crash where a lorry carrying ethanol was involved in a collision on the N3 near Pietermaritzburg and caught alight claiming the lives of two people.

African News Agency (ANA)