E-tolling unreasonable - Outa

2012-04-25 19:16

Pretoria - The e-tolling system is so unreasonable that no reasonable person would decide to put it into effect, the North Gauteng High Court heard on Wednesday.

The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance's (Outa) lawyer Alistair Franklin was presenting argument on why the system should be scrapped.

He said there were disproportionate costs.

"Collecting costs are exceeding the cost of improvement [of the road]," said Franklin.

Outa had a prima facie case, he said.

The minister of transport had to explain the justification for the "bizarre" decision.

According to the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral), the tolls would cost about R21bn a year. However, the minister had denied the correctness of the figure, said Franklin.

"Decision-making powers have no explanation for it [the amount]."

He said Sanral had also not addressed the figures in its responding affidavit submitted to the court.

Outa was arguing that the introduction of the toll roads would be "practically impossible".

Sanral had estimated that one million vehicles would use the road a day and that 7% would be non-compliant.

Franklin said this meant that 70 000 people a day would be non-compliant.

"There was no indication how [Sanral] will deal with those who did not comply," he said.

The matter continues on Thursday.

- SAPA