SANRAL misleading the public

The City of Cape Town has noted SANRAL's statement about the Winelands Tolling Project. Instead of providing the public with ‘some perspective' on the matter, SANRAL is once again misleading the very people who will have to fund their ill-conceived project. Read more below: 

The documents that SANRAL was ordered to provide to the City contradict the story that Mr Alli is telling to the media and the public. These distortions, however, do not concern me at all as I know the public will know better than to fall for it.

SANRAL's track record speaks for itself - the residents of Gauteng had had first-hand experience of this public entity's integrity, accountability and transparency, or should I rather say lack thereof.

Instead of simply disputing the information we have discovered from these documents, it would be useful for Mr Alli to share with us what he claims to be the true toll fees and the Protea Parkway Consortium's (PPC's) projected revenues.

Herewith the facts:

The public has not been given information on the proposed toll tariffs; they have only been provided with general information.

SANRAL is not prevented from upgrading the roads and the City denies that there are serious safety concerns with regard to the Huguenot Tunnel.

The City denies that the decisions declaring this tolling project have been taken lawfully and in accordance with the SANRAL Act - this has to be proved by SANRAL in court.

The City has not claimed that the Protea Parkways Consortium (PPC) would earn R48 billion in profit; PPC's tender documents indicate that their estimated revenue would be about R48 billion.

We did not claim that SANRAL had undertaken to guarantee PPC's revenue or traffic numbers. The concession contract provides for a reimbursement provision which effectively guarantees the proposed toll tariff.

It is furthermore revealing that Mr Alli still claims that it was ‘necessary' to keep information of great public importance a secret for the sake of ‘competitiveness' while two courts have found that SANRAL and its preferred bidder had no such claim to confidentiality.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) not only upheld the City's appeal, but also made the order that SANRAL must pay the City's costs in both the secrecy application and the appeal to the SCA. Thus far the City of Cape Town has won all the rounds.

We are indeed looking forward to meeting SANRAL and Mr Alli in the Western Cape High Court on 11 August 2015 when our review application will be heard.

Statement issued by Councillor Brett Herron, Mayoral Committee Member: Transport for Cape Town, City of Cape Town, April 2 2015

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