Slowly the detail emerges

IT by bit, motorists are gleaning the thinking at the SA National Roads Agency on toll roads and e-tolling. The latest intelligence is that it is eyeing a second tollgate, in addition to the turnpike at Mariannhill, on the busy DurbanPietermaritzburg N3.

Sanral’s spokesman accused the DA of making politics of this as part of its campaign for next year’s elections. If there was no genuine issue, the DA would have no benefit. It would be wasting its time in raising the alarm after word of Sanral’s potential toll roads emerged at a parliamentary hearing last week.

But there is real disapproval here – both among DA supporters and, judging by the reaction from Cosatu and others, much wider. This includes those who will have no inclination to vote for the opposition party next year.

The Daily News learned also that our provincial administration, dominated by the ANC, is against more booths on the N3 as much as it is against the envisaged N2 tollgate. So much for the DA’s play for gains.

Both the N2 turnpike, and thoughts now of a new one on the N3, are on existing freeways. They are also in the commuter belt, and will impact severely on people whose livelihoods depend on those daily trips. Neither of these is desirable.

Escalating the cost of the daily DurbanPietermaritzburg journeys to and from work will not help the provincial government’s plans to facilitate an improved flow of people between the two cities.

Then there is the economic knock-on of added costs in delivering goods and services, which economists have repeatedly warned of.

Sanral has sought to assure that it would not declare a toll road without consulting the affected communities or without socio-economic impact studies. Tell this to the motorists of Gauteng, unheard voices, as they face the highly unpopular prospect of e-tolling within weeks.

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