Sanral not profiting from e-tolls: Vilana

It was "lies and a myth" that the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) was "milking money from the tolls", transport department director general Mawethu Vilana said in Pretoria.

 

He was addressing the panel appointed by Gauteng premier David Makhura in July to examine the economic and social impact of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project and the e-tolling system set up to fund it.

 

Vilana said Sanral received most of its funding from government through an annual budget.

 

"Only the minister of transport can approve the tolling of any road and not Sanral," said Vilana.

 

Transport Minister Dipuo Peters told the panel the Gauteng government began discussions in 1996 to improve highways. This was two years before Sanral's establishment.

 

The e-toll strategy was drafted in 1997. The brakes were put on the project several times before it was implemented in December 2013.

 

The panel was expected to present its findings to Makhura at the end of the month.

 

 

(File photo: Gallo images)