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The 185 km first-phase Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) should be 80% completed by the start of the FIFA World Cup on June 11, said South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) GFIP project leader Alex van Niekerk in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Africa Roads conference, he said the concrete barriers currently protecting work areas would be removed for the sports event, and that most newly constructed lanes would be available to road users.
There would also be no road works on primary routes for the duration of the World Cup.
Speaking to Engineering News Online on the sidelines of the conference, Van Niekerk also indicated that the maximum toll fee charged could increase from the 2007 figure of 50 c/km to 65 c/km, with inflation the culprit.
Electronic open-road tolling (no stopping required) was on track to be implemented across the GFIP network in April 2011.
However, Van Niekerk said Sanral was still thrashing out the fee structure, and that it would attempt to stick as closely as possible to the 50 c/km. He added that the 65 c/km fee was also the maximum amount a car user would pay, and that it did not incorporate discounts for regular road users.
"We are not in this for profit. Sanral is not suppose to make a profit - but also not a loss. The toll fees are being implemented to pay for the GFIP project."
The first phase of GFIP carried a price tag of more than R20-billion, and included the widening of freeways through the addition of new lanes, while also upgrading interchanges.
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