Publications
Partners
The tender process for the Gauteng toll project is above board, chief executive of the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral), Nazir Alli, said on Wednesday.
Alli made the announcements in a panel discussion hosted at the Johannesburg Press Club, where he also thanked Sanral’s critics that had pushed for the scrutiny.
"We have had a clean bill of health from the Auditor General... you can rest assured this particular project is well checked and if there was anything untoward, I probably would have been hauled up in front of some disciplinary hearing already," Alli said.
"...this was also further confirmed in the recent audits which were done by the two companies which were appointed, one by the AG's office and the other by the province,” Alli continued.
The Gauteng Open Road Tolling (ORT) project has been marred in controversy since the toll fees were announced late in 2010. In recent months, Sanral came under fire for reportedly failing to reveal the total cost of the project and then over the awarding of the R4bn tender to a mainly foreign-owned consortium to collect tolls.
The announcement of the tariffs sent a shock-wave through the province with fears that the tolls, coupled with rising food and fuel costs, would hit the poor hardest..
The outcry prompted transport minister S'bu Ndebele and Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane to suspend the implementation of the toll fees and have a task team probe alternatives to the high tariffs.
The task team returned in June, 2011, with proposed revised rates, but the decision to accept or reject the revised costing remains Ndebele’s.
Alli added it was important that drivers were aware of the benefits of the tolls system, including better maintained roads that reduced wear and tear on vehicles.
Alli made the announcements in a panel discussion hosted at the Johannesburg Press Club, where he also thanked Sanral’s critics that had pushed for the scrutiny.
"We have had a clean bill of health from the Auditor General... you can rest assured this particular project is well checked and if there was anything untoward, I probably would have been hauled up in front of some disciplinary hearing already," Alli said.
"...this was also further confirmed in the recent audits which were done by the two companies which were appointed, one by the AG's office and the other by the province,” Alli continued.
The Gauteng Open Road Tolling (ORT) project has been marred in controversy since the toll fees were announced late in 2010. In recent months, Sanral came under fire for reportedly failing to reveal the total cost of the project and then over the awarding of the R4bn tender to a mainly foreign-owned consortium to collect tolls.
The announcement of the tariffs sent a shock-wave through the province with fears that the tolls, coupled with rising food and fuel costs, would hit the poor hardest..
The outcry prompted transport minister S'bu Ndebele and Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane to suspend the implementation of the toll fees and have a task team probe alternatives to the high tariffs.
The task team returned in June, 2011, with proposed revised rates, but the decision to accept or reject the revised costing remains Ndebele’s.
Alli added it was important that drivers were aware of the benefits of the tolls system, including better maintained roads that reduced wear and tear on vehicles.
