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complete”.

A Sanral statement this week confirmed the bidding process was “far from complete”, although there have been indications PPC was its preferred bidder.

Sanral said the city had “regularly misconstrued and misunderstood both the numbers and the processes related to this road (the N1 and N2 toll projects)”.

Alli defended Sanral’s decision to push ahead with plans to add toll stops on the Western Cape portions of these two national roads. “What is misunderstood is that roads, which are vital for infrastructural and economic development in our country, are expensive to build and maintain. A road is never finished.

“It requires constant maintenance, including regular resurfacing and upgrading, and that will apply to this road as well. This is the essence of a concession, as will be the case here, where the concessionaire takes on these responsibilities and carries the risk for traffic and many other variables over the course of a 30-year concession.

“It brings with it enormous economic development. It is a strategic infrastructure project that is necessary to sustain and develop the Western Cape.

“There are also additional benefits to the economy in the eased flow of transport of people and goods in and out of the Western Cape. This has decided benefits for industry, tourism and a host of other sectors.”

Alli was adamant that the “highways around Cape Town need urgent attention”.

“Traffic congestion is now higher than anywhere else in the country, and the longer the delay in rectifying the situation, the worse it will become.”

But the city argues there is no need for tolls on the Western Cape portions of the highways.

Herron said Sanral had also not considered “whether or not low-income groups would be able to afford to use the N1 and N2 freeways should they become toll roads”.

“The negative macro- economic impact on the region has not been considered, the effect it would have on the transport costs of agricultural products, to name but one,” he said.

The city would, in court papers to be filed by April 25, “fully disclose the (PPC) calculations that are being investigated by nine experts… how much of every rand collected in toll fees will be spent on the toll project infrastructure and operations, as opposed to road improvements, maintenance and operational work”.

N1 and N2 toll gate workers in Gauteng have meanwhile gone on strike for better wages. Chris Nkosi, Gauteng secretary of the South African Transport Workers Union, said yesterday their strike started this week.

Workers want their monthly salaries increased from R2 000 to R4 500.