E-tolls contracts: Almost half a billion rand to communicate

Almost half a billion rand, R473.2 million, will be spent only on communication with e-toll account holders and transgressors, the DA's analysis of the e-toll contract between the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) and the Electronic Toll Collections (ETC) joint venture has revealed.

The total cost of communications for the Transaction Clearance House (TCH), responsible for the hosting and accuracy of all e-toll accounts is R92.6 million, while the cost of communications for the Violations Processing Centre (VPC), facilitating and ensuring recovering of e-toll fees owed, is R380.6 million.

The DA believes that the provisional costs of communication add to growing proof of how expensive it will be to operate e-tolls in Gauteng.

The increased spending by the Violations Processing Centre forewarns of the struggle to track down transgressors and will result in both increased operating costs and less fees recovered.

Increased costs in operating e-tolls and fewer fees recovered means less money is reinvested into Gauteng roads.

The TCH cost breakdown shows:

• R20 million for sms services;
• R600 000 for emails;
• R40 million for calls to cellular phones;
• R25 million for calls to landlines;
• R4 million for faxes;
• R3 million for letters.

The VPC cost breakdown shows:

• R80 million for sms services;
• R600 000 for emails;
• R175 million for calls to cellular phones;
• R100 million for calls to landlines;
• R15 million for faxes;
• R10 million for letters.

The DA maintains that e-tolls will serve no benefit to the people of Gauteng. We have received the three omitted documents from Sanral and are now in possession of the full contract, able to study it in its entirety and will continue to scrutinise the documents. 

We will continue to search for Sanral's financial obligations to ETC, how transgressors will be prosecuted and what options are available to stop the e-tolls and will reveal our findings at a later stage during a Press Conference.

The DA has already successfully halted Sanral's plans to toll highways where we govern in the Western Cape and is prepared to take the fight to the Constitutional Court if we have to. We have committed the same vigour to stop e-tolls in Gauteng when we are elected to govern the province in 2014.

We are confident that our findings on the e-toll contract will show that e-tolling does not work and a DA Gauteng government in 2014 will listen when the people say no to e-tolls.

Statement issued by Ian Ollis MP, DA Shadow Minister of Transport, August 26 2013

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