Gauteng toll roads: an overview of issues and perspectives

Abstract

Paper presented at the 31st Annual Southern African Transport Conference 9-12 July 2012 "Getting Southern Africa to Work", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.

The first phase of SANRAL’s Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) is nearing completion and toll collection is on the brink of commencing. The tariff announcement has caused uproar from road users and politicians. This paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of tolls roads and evaluates GFIP from an economic, social and legislative perspective. The paper finds that an inadequate transport network is one of the key constraints to economic growth, but funding road projects is an issue in countries with widespread poverty. Tolling is an economically viable option for Gauteng’s circumstances and GFIP has proven feasible in various studies and analyses. The project is generally well aligned with the legislation of South Africa. The public’s negative reaction should be temporary, since it is linked to the additional real expense that is incurred, without any immediately perceivable benefits.