Gauteng government pays another R3. 3 billion for e-tolls debt
Image: Karen Sandison / Independent Newspapers
GAUTENG Finance MEC Lebogang Maile has committed the province to paying off its 30% portion towards servicing the e-toll debt with the provincial treasury expected to make the payment of R3.3 billion towards the debt on Monday.
This comes more than six months since the province made the first payment of R3.8 billion in September last year following the scrapping of the e-toll system early in 2024 with the National Treasury having agreed to cover 70% of the debt as the province took responsibility for the remaining 30%. According to reports, the debt is set to be repaid in five annual installments.
Finance MEC Lebogang Maile, is set to make a landmark payment of R3.3 billion on Monday, fulfilling the provincial government's commitment to cover 30% of the provincial e-toll debt.
Image: Itumeleng English/independent Newspapers
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During a press briefing on Sunday, Maile indicated that an amount of R5.76 billion would be paid Monday for the e-toll debt while another portion will be paid towards SANRAL freeway upgrades.
"We are committed to increasing efficiency and systems, cost effectiveness and eliminate leakages, identifying potential new revenue collecting sources that have not been explored and the use of alternative funding and implementation models to achieve more value. We are confident that alongside other interventions such as implementation of advanced technology and digitisation of our supply chain management, we will be able to realise the objectives that we have set before ourselves with the revenue enhancement strategy," he said.
Maile revealed that the provincial government has been making progress in paying off its e-toll debt.
"The Gauteng Provincial Government will make a transfer total of R5.76 billion towards the e-toll debt and the contribution towards the Sanral Gauteng freeway improvement project. There is much more work that still needs to be done to unpack the financing model.... We wish to announce that... the 30th of June 2025, the Gauteng Provincial Government will honour the province's obligation by paying the second instalment towards the e-tolls debt as disclosed in the 2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
"The second amount due on the 30th of June 2025, based on the memorandum of agreement, is R3.377 billion in terms historical debt. This is the amount that we will be paying to the National Treasury as a second instalment as part of our 30% contribution," he added.
Maile added that the province will be embarking on various alternative ways to fund road upgrades, "for the policy perspective and financial impact as well as practical solutions. Of the studies undertaken by Sanral, there exists institutional knowledge in terms of the new routes and upgrades on new routes.
The MEC indicated that the principal debt was over R20 billion, including interest of R3 billion as well as contributions towards maintenance.
"The debt was about R12.9 billion with interest of over R3 billion and there was road maintenance of R4.1 billion. What we are going to be paying is the debt and interest as one amount and road maintenance of R2 billion. We have also indicated the roads that we expect Sanral to maintain alongside our team and to report on the progress," he added.
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