Photo by: Reuters
South African National Roads Agency Limited CEO Nazir Alli on Wednesday said the backlog of maintenance and road networks was sitting at R197-billion, up from R149-billion in 2010.
Alli was addressing the business sector at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Umhlanga.
He said nontoll roads, which made up 85% of Sanral’s portfolio, were funded by the fiscus.
“There is only about 3 128 km of toll roads and the amount of time and energy spent on this is incongruous when you look at the kilometres...”
He said revenue generated from toll roads was strictly used to fund toll roads.
“As business people you will understand the value of ratings better… When rating agencies look at us they look at the whole spectrum of the business scene, not only the macroeconomic situation in the country.”
He said business and government needed to work together.
“Unfortunately [as the business fraternity] you are too quiet, you are not contesting government…We have to work together and stave off the potential downgrade.”
Speaking about the fuel levy, he said government promoted the user-pay principal because it was not fair to charge people for roads they are not using.
“Why should someone in KZN pay for the fancy roads in Gauteng when they are not using them?”
He said with the technological advancement made in the motoring industry, there would be a decrease in the use of fuel in the future.
“Predictions have been made that, come 2030, people will be driving electronic vehicles or using alternative fuels…but the vehicles will still require roads.”
He said if Sanral needed about R12-billion in the next ten years to be able to increase the national road networks. Sanral is responsible for national roads which span over 21 000 km.
He told the business fraternity that transformation was imperative and that South Africa should celebrate the positive achievements.
“Take the much maligned e-toll system, it is the only interoperable system in the world… Even gated communities are introducing the tags and car hire companies but these are the things that are not talked about.”
He said business had a responsibility to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.
“Our business people are very smart in South Africa, they may complain about the red tape but the red tape is there so that we can maintain order and things don’t happen in a haphazard fashion.”
He told the business sector that preservation and maintaining assets was far more important than to building something new.
“You guys need to be more louder and my appeal to the business people is that you need to get more involved in terms of the decision making.”