Roads agency boss tackles toll protests
Sanral CEO challenges toll road criticisms at a forum meeting in Richards Bay.
NEWS that the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) plans to introduce new toll-roads across the country, including KwaZulu-Natal, has raised public ire.
There were even mutterings of a possible introduction of e-tag payment lanes at toll plazas in KZN, but Sanral CEO Nazir Alli shot down these rumours in May.
However, at a Progressive Professionals Forum (PPF) uThungulu branch launch event in Richards Bay on Saturday, Alli addressed the issue of funding roads and infrastructure, which he referred to as ‘the elephant in the room’.
‘Funding is one of our major challenges and the options remain either to subsidise public transport or to cut out roads,’ said Alli.
‘It cannot always be government taking the initiative to mend the fences – we have to adapt and the public has to get involved in government policies.
‘We have a propensity to knock our country, something I find to be an annoyance. Not everything in our country is bad.’
Alli highlighted the fact that South Africa currently has the 18th largest surfaced road network in the world, with 153 000km surfaced with either asphalt or concrete.
About 80% of freight transport takes place on these roads.
He added that a daunting road maintenance backlog of R149-billion for Sanral’s 2012/2013 Strategic Plan has increased since it was first revealed two years ago.
‘We have to contribute to social infrastructure as well as economic infrastructure, and I believe users should be paying for it.
‘The country’s National Development Plan states that we have to provide appropriate protection for the poor, and pedestrian bridges have helped keep countless people safe.
‘As government, our role is to govern our roads. It is not our role to be popular.’
