Name and Location
N1/N2 Winelands toll-highway project, Western Cape, South Africa.

Client
South African National Roads Authority Limited (Sanral).

Project Description
The project encompasses 105 km of the N1 highway between Cape Town and Worcester, and 70 km of the N2 between Bot river and Cape Town.

The toll-highway project will include the construction and upgrade of roads and associated infrastructure on certain portions of the N1 between the R300 and Sandhills, and on the N2, in the Western Cape; the construction and upgrade of portions of N1/N2; the upgrade of the second bore of the Huguenot tunnel; the construction of toll plazas between the R300 and Bot river; and the construction of the new, closed ‘cut-and-cover’ tunnel alignment through Helderzicht, extending west from the Danie Ackerman Primary School to the Victoria street interchange.

In 2003, the project was granted environmental authorisation and was gazetted as a toll road in 2008.

Value
As the project is a 30-year concession, Sanral has proposed to develop it through a public–private partnership.

The concessionaire will finance the construction, maintenance and operation through toll collection and will be required to hand over the road to Sanral after this time.

The overall cost of the project is estimated at R10-billion.

Duration
The concession contract comprises the upgrade work on the N1 and N2 during an initial construction period of about three years and the upgrade, maintenance and operation of the road for the remaining 27 years.

The initial construction works will take three years to complete. The operation and maintenance period for the public–private partnership project is expected to start in 2015 and end in 2042.

Latest Developments
Sanral is considering its legal options after losing its fight to proceed with tolling in the Western Cape.

Western Cape High Court Judge Ashley Binns-Ward ruled in favour of the City of Cape Town, effectively scrapping the Winelands toll project on September 30.

He set aside Sanral’s decision to toll portions of the N1 and N2, as well as the transport minister’s 2008 decision to declare the N1 and N2 as toll roads.

This renders the project null and void. If Sanral decides to go ahead with it again, it will need to restart the entire process.

Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona has said he was pleased “that environmental authorisations regarding the implementation of the project were upheld”, but was disappointed that the court had set aside the decisions “concerning the procedure of the declaration to toll.”

Mona has added that Sanral will review all its legal options; he believes the city’s real complaint about the project was “about tolling as a funding choice”.

Sanral has argued that tolling is a necessary funding mechanism for much-needed upgrades of South Africa’s national roads.

The project has been in the making for more than ten years and the decision, as argued in Sanral’s court papers, has now rendered it “stillborn”.

Mona has said that the project, meant to improve the link between the Western Cape and the rest of the country, might never be realised.

He has said upgrades to roads for the next 20 years, if at all, will not be forthcoming if the project is not allowed to proceed.

However, Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille has said the court’s decision is a “victory for all South Africans”, adding if the project were to restart, it would require “proper public consultation”.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Sanral, tel +27 21 975 4600.
Group Five, tel +27 11 806 0241, fax +27 11 803 5829 or email scoventry@groupfive.co.za.
Basil Read, tel +27 11 418 6300 or fax +27 11 418 6333.
Bouygues Construction, tel +33 1 3060 3300, fax +33 1 3060 4861 or email bouygues-construction.com.