Western Cape premier Martinus van Schalkwyk has added his voice to the toll road debate following reports about the proposed changes to the N1 and N2 routes into Cape Town.
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Yesterday, CARtoday.com reported that the proposed toll roads were meeting much opposition from local communities and the business community. In response to this, Van Schalkwyk has said that the provincial government would find it difficult to support and give the go-ahead for toll roads where there were no alternative routes or special concessions for people affected by them. He also stated that the plans for the N1 and N2 were not a “fait accompli” as further steps still needed to be finalised.
These include requests from the South African National Roads Agency for comment from the province and the Cape Town city council. Bigger load factors on routes not designed to take increased traffic, which would place an extra cost burden on the province, also still needed to be reviewed.
Other “serious” questions needing answers were the financial effects toll roads would have on the local economies of Cape Town and its smaller municipalities.
Adding to his previous comments, Albert Schuitmaker, director of the Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has said that chamber believed that improvements were needed to the road system but maintained that the best way to finance them was through a levy on fuel.
“Traffic experts say less than 50 per cent of the present national fuel levy of about R1/l is spent on transport. If all the money raised by the fuel tax was spent on road transport there would be more than enough to maintain and improve the entire national, provincial and local road network,” he said.