The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has raised R9.95 billion to date – almost half of the funding required for its major road improvements.
The agency – which previously stated it would need to raise R25 billion in debt finance over two years to fund its upgrade project – says e-tolling will be a reality in 2010. In 2008, more than R4.6 billion was raised for the upgrade projects.
The agency has exceeded its target to raise R2.5 billion by mid-April 2009. Bond placements were scheduled for the second Wednesday of each month, and took place on 4 February (R1 billion), 11 March (R750 million), and 8 April (R750 million).
At its auction on 11 March 2009, Sanral tapped into five of its six bonds and overall bids received during the auction totalled R2.8 billion. This exceeded the allocated R1 billion. In its third auction, in April, Sanral tapped into three of its six bonds and received bids totalling R1 28 billion – exceeding the allocated price.
Sanral states it would raise another R12 billion by the end of March 2010, while R50 million had been allocated to its so-called HWAY bond. Sanral added that most of the capital would be raised through a domestic medium-term note programme, which allows it to issue notes on an ongoing basis.
Some R20 billion of the total funding has been allocated to the completion of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project. The 185km of new toll infrastructure will see the N1 to Pretoria, Johannesburg ring roads and the R21 to Pretoria, become electronic tolling zones. Roads will be operated on the user-pays principle after October 2010. Sanral is still appraising various options for billing the toll fees to motorists. These could include linking tags to bank accounts, systems to recharge tags at retail outlets, or Internet-based products.
The Open Road Tolling system will require each vehicle passing through the tolls to carry an electronic tag. Fees will be deducted each time a vehicle passes under one of the overhead gantries set about 10km apart across the Gauteng freeway system.
[Story by Audra Mahlong appeared on ITWeb]
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