Decision on e-tolls on the cards by end March – Mbalula
The DA hopes the minister would stick to his promise and announce the decision on the controversial system which has been a dark cloud around the heads of provincial and national government for over a year.
End of March. That is the new date set by government to announce the future of the much-maligned e-tolls.
Transport minister Fikile Mbalula said during a question and answer session in parliament on the state of the nation address relating to his department that the government was expected to announce the decision on e-tolls next month.
“We are equally enjoined to finalise the funding model and the tariff structure on the Gauteng freeway improvement project (e-tolls) by the end of this financial year,” he said.
Gauteng DA has since welcomed Mbalula’s indication that the national government would provide clarity on the future of e-tolls.
DA Gauteng roads and transport spokesperson Fred Nel said they hoped the transport ministry and the cabinet would stick to the set date this time.
We have to make strides in increasing competitiveness and access to transport modal networks through effective regulation. We have conceptualised Priorities that include re-imagining safety as an enabler of service delivery. pic.twitter.com/zJpCb1m0r7
— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | Fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) February 17, 2021
“For the past 18 months, Mbalula has been continuously kicking this can down the road. The DA hopes that he has finally reached the end of that road and that it will not be another false start,” he said.
“In light of recent announcements that all toll fees will soon increase, despite the desperate state of our economy and subsequent damage to many livelihoods during the lockdown, it is even more important to get rid of e-tolls as soon as possible.”
Nel said the DA believed that the people of Gauteng must no longer be “burdened by this nonsensical system.”
While the government has yet to announce a decision on whether it would scrap e-tolls, it has now been more than a year since the cabinet set up a team that included the national treasury, to come up with a solution to the controversial system and they were expected to decide by October 2019.
The implementation of e-tolls in December 2013, has been met with public retaliation with many motorists refusing to pay. Political parties and civil organisations have also protested against the system, putting pressure on the government to scrap the unpopular means of collection.
This deployment of the new trains will also include these corridors. pic.twitter.com/xkl6GUbUSE
— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | Fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) February 18, 2021
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