ANC rethink on tolls encouraging - DA

2012-06-26 17:40

(File, Sapa)

Johannesburg - The DA has welcomed the ANC's rethink on toll roads as "encouraging", after the ANC in Gauteng proposed that a fuel levy increase be considered as an interim measure to fund improvements on the province's roads.

The Times newspaper reported on Tuesday that the provincial ANC had also suggested a "once-off" contribution from companies which make "super-profits" in the province.

This was contained in the Gauteng ANC's discussion paper on public transport and infrastructure, which is to be debated at the policy conference in Midrand this week.

The Gauteng ANC had also proposed that the government's pension fund be used for infrastructure development.

The SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) was incurring mounting debt after the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria halted e-tolls in Gauteng in April in favour of the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa).

The court granted an interdict preventing Sanral from levying or collecting e-tolls pending the outcome of a judicial review.

Permanent solution

The Democratic Alliance welcomed the rethink.

"However, what is missing from their thinking is that the tax on fuel must be ring-fenced," DA MPL Neil Campbell said.

"They advance the suggestion as a 'temporary' solution, but if it can work temporarily it can work permanently."

Campbell said if the ANC was serious about abandoning e-tolls then the government had to stop the e-toll collection contract and withdraw from an expensive Constitutional Court challenge.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has applied to the Constitutional Court to set aside the order made by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, arguing that Judge Bill Prinsloo had ignored the principle of separation of powers.

The Constitutional Court will hear arguments in the case on August 15.

- SAPA