Sanral has just one month to collect the remaining R5.8 billion in outstanding etolls fees, according to Outa.
In a statement released yesterday, Outa practically scoffed at what it said is a “desperate attempt to convince the public that all is on track for e-toll success”, when in fact, Sanral has only collected less than R100 million of the R5,9 billion ring-fenced debt during the 60% discount period.
The year-long discount dispensation was announced by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa last year and ends on the 1st May this year.
According to Sanral, between R80 million and R90 million was collected during February and March, but Outa disputes this, claiming the real numbers have been fluctuating between a high of R82 million and low of R59 million over the seven months from July 2015 to January 2016.
“Throughout the first half of 2015, Sanral’s etoll collections averaged R65 million per month, which was around half the level of Sanra’s best etoll revenue record of R120 million in June 2014,” OUTA’s Chairman, Wayne Duvenage, said.
In October 2015, Sanral revealed that etoll revenue collections amount to just R60 million every month, falling R200 million short of its monthly bond repayment of R260 million.
Duvenage added the Outa highly doubts that Sanral will successfully recur all its debts by the end of April. If this report is infact true, then it’s safe to say that the alliance is on the money with this claim.
In an interview htxt.africa had last month with the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) company about the dispensation, it said it could not as yet reveal how much in debt had been collected, but that non-payers were in the minority, although they make up the largest portion of debt owed to Sanral.
“We don’t expect Sanral’s e-toll compliance levels to go much beyond 30%, which is a massive failure for any so-called user-pays scheme,” Duvenage went on. “Sanral cannot run roughshod over the public, with meaningless engagement programs and excessive collection contracts for an ill-conceived scheme to service the debt of an overpriced freeway upgrade, and expect us to fall for their nonsense.”
[Source and image – Outa]
