Western Cape High Court expected to deliver judgement in e-tolls case tomorrow

29th September 2015

By: African News Agency

  

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Western Cape High Court Judge Ashley Binns-Ward is expected to deliver judgement in the controversial e-tolls case on Wednesday.

The City of Cape Town approached the Western Cape High Court earlier this year in a bid to have the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) set aside its decision to toll parts of the N1 and N2.

In August, the City’s advocoate Geoff Budlender argued that the Winelands Toll Project was “procedurally flawed” and that the transport minister and Sanral had not considered “key issues.”

He told the court the financial viability of the project had never been considered, and if it were to go ahead, Capetonian road users would have to pay three times as much as Gauteng road users for e-tolls, at 74c per km.

Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille called the decision to proceed with e-tolls an “irrational” one.

But, Sanral hit back and contended that the City of Cape Town’s application to the Western Cape High Court was politically motivated.

In court papers, Sanral argued that the City “wants the benefits of enhancement to highways, without assuming the cost” and that it asked the court “that these upgrades not be paid for in the manner chosen by Sanral”.

In 2008, Sanral CEO Nazir Alli submitted an application to the transport minister to declare the N1 and N2 highways as toll roads. This was then done.

Sanral has argued if Judge Binns-Ward rules in the City’s favour it would set the project back by ten years and the prospect of road upgrades in the next fifteen years would be “remote.”

Edited by African News Agency

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