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.
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. He said business and government needed 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.
“Predictions are that by 2030 people will be driving electronic vehicles or using alternative fuels…but the vehicles will still require roads.”
He said 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.
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