City’s failure to act on roads ‘a catastrophe for economy’
Sanral says the N1 and N2 are ‘virtual parking lots’ during peak hour traffic as a result of years of under-investment by authorities
TRANSPORT authorities in the Western Cape face stark choices to provide residents and business in the region with an infrastructure that can support economic growth and improve the mobility of communities. They can either follow a “do-nothing” approach and allow road infrastructure around Cape Town to fall further behind what is required to support a vibrant economy, or they can support investment in improved infrastructure, funded through the globally acceptable user-pay principle.
Sanral, as the agency that manages 21 403km of the national road network in the country, does not see the “do nothing” approach as a solution to the problem.
It is regrettable that its plans for investment in the future of the N1 and N2 freeways are being opposed at every turn by the City of Cape Town and the current political leadership.
There is a growing consensus among Cape Town residents and visitors to the city that the road infrastructure is insufficient to meet current demand and expected future traffic growth.
The fact is that morning and afternoon peak traffic is turning the road network into a virtual parking lot.
Newspapers have commented on the frustrations of ordinary motorists who have to waste hours in gridlock every day.
“Peak-hour traffic is a nightmare,” a headline recently noted. “The problem must be fixed, and it must be fixed now.”
A recent survey by Tom Tom shows that Cape Town is now the most congested city in South Africa. This has serious consequences for a city and region that is so dependent on mobility to support key economic drivers such as the tourism and hospitality sectors.
New roads do not appear overnight. They require decades of planning, years of design and months of construction. Sanral’s plans for the upgrading of the N1 and N2 have been long in the making and thoroughly canvassed among communities through public participation processes and debates in the media.
The current impasse in Cape Town is caused by an insufficient understanding by the city of how roads are funded in South Africa. While most political parties profess to support the principles contained in the National Development Plan, they balk at its recommendations that future infrastructure projects of this nature should be funded through the user-pay principle.
Funding for road infrastructure is a major challenge and has to compete for allocations from the national budget with other social priorities such as education, health and social grants.
In the 2014/15 Budget, R44 billion was allocated for roads of which 45 percent went to provinces and the remaining 55 percent was split equally between national and local roads. A further R12bn was allocated to public transport infrastructure and subsidies for bus operators, which make up R56bn. In return, the fiscus collected about R53bn from road users through the fuel levy and vehicle licence fees.
The assertion that the fuel and other road related taxes disappear into a hole called the fiscus is a myth. The income collected from roads is spent, in full, on the construction and maintenance of roads. There is no fat in the system or additional revenue available to be allocated.
Another reality is that Sanral is busy with a number of road expansion projects in the nine provinces which all require funding. Close to R120bn will be needed over the next 10 years to complete these programmes. The N1/N2 is just one of these developments that are already in various stages of completion. These projects, on their own, are vital for the future economic growth of specific districts, and provinces and the country in general.
It is well known – also to the City of Cape Town – that the N1/N2 Winelands project has long been earmarked as a toll road and, consequently,
NEW ROADS DO NOT APPEAR OVERNIGHT. THEY REQUIRE DECADES OF PLANNING, YEARS OF DESIGN AND MONTHS OF CONSTRUCTION
no funds have been allocated to it from the nontoll budget in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.
There are not many viable alternatives available to fund this project and address the congestion which is currently threatening to stifle the economic growth of Cape Town.
One option would be to add the N1/N2 into the non-toll road portfolio to be funded directly from the Budget. This means that upgrades to the freeways of Cape Town will have to compete for funding with other projects with a similar or higher priority such as the N2 in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal and further expansions to the Gauteng Freeway system. This is not a viable option and the people of Cape Town deserve a better alternative.
An equally disastrous option is the “do nothing” approach apparently favoured by some sectors in the City of Cape Town. The consequences of this approach are easy to predict. Traffic congestion will grow. Roads will become more clogged. The city’s economy and all the business sectors and communities that depend on it will grind to a halt.
The direct cost of congestion can be measured in terms of hours lost, reduced productivity, slowdown in trade and tourism and higher operating costs for both the transport sectors and ordinary vehicle owners.
The social cost is equally devastating through its impact on communities where people have to leave home early and return late, unable to spend quality time with families or have an influence on the lives of their children.
Moreover, delays on the N1/N2 project mean that vital improvements to the safety aspects of the roads cannot be implemented, adding to existing concerns about the high rate of crashes and consequent loss of lives.
For Sanral, the only viable alternative is to implement the user-pay principle endorsed in the National Development Plan and to fund the project through tolling. This will enable Sanral to raise finance from the private sector and to upgrade and repair this important network over a three-year period.
The residents of Cape Town and the economy of the region deserve an upgraded and improved freeway system. Sanral is ready to start with this important infrastructure project the moment the current impasse is broken.
Randall Cable is engineering manager: operations for Sanral in the Western Cape.