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The landscape of South Africa’s national roadsThe South African national road network is the economic arteries of the nation – arteries that connect major cities, towns and developing villages in rural areas of South Africa. The major benefits of the national road network are economic growth, tourism, social development and the creation of economic opportunities.
Our South African Pavement Design approach here at the South African National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) is one of the most advanced in the world and enables us to design each road section based on actual material inputs applicable for that section of road.
There is a common misconception when referring to a road as a “pavement”; it actually refers to the portion of the road on which vehicles travel, with either a concrete or bituminous surface – and not a pedestrian walkway.
Sanral has a very distinct mandate – to finance, improve, manage and maintain the national road network (the “economic arteries” of South Africa). The development of a world-class national road network as a driver of primary economic growth has seen South Africa’s national road infrastructure grow from 7 000 kilometres to over 16 000km in just over a decade.
Sanral manages the national road network of 16 170km, which is made up of toll and non-toll roads.
Non-toll roads are funded by grants from the National Treasury and although there has been a steady increase in fund allocations from the fiscus over the past few years, there has been an increase in the roads incorporated from provincial into the non-toll national road network.
The increasing costs of materials also have eroded the gains made. These costs are affected by the price of fuel, plant, labour and civil engineering materials as well as the spiralling price of bitumen.
Toll road operations can be divided into two types – those managed and funded by Sanral; and toll roads that are wholly funded by private parties under public-private partnerships (PPPs).
PPPs have provided an opportunity for Sanral to partner with the private sector, bringing about a paradigm shift in respect of financial discipline linked to timeous delivery of basic infrastructure.
The toll road network is supported by funds raised from the capital and money markets by issuing bonds and raising loans.
The toll network extends around the country and includes the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), the largest (185km) road construction project in South Africa over two decades. We remain confident that, when completed, the GFIP will deliver significant improvements to all motorists in terms of safety, convenience and less time on the road.
The revenue generated from toll roads goes toward the financing of these exact toll roads.
It is a common myth that tolls represent double taxation. In fact, when we pay taxes, these monies are used for the services that the government renders to all South Africans.
A toll is not a tax, and is only paid for that portion of road that we use, in other words, it is a user fee. A toll road is funded by those choosing to pay for the use of the facility, whereas taxes are not optional and are charged to everyone.
It is true that customers of toll facilities also pay taxes, but these levies are used to fund non-toll roads.
We do not add the costs of existing networks to the toll road tariff structure. The emphasis is on recovering costs only for work done and having users only fund the construction and operating costs, including the maintenance involved.
This mechanism enables Sanral to deliver new roads and improved networks faster than it would if it relied solely on the fiscus. The fact is that if we relied solely on state funding, we would not be able to deliver new roads, or improve systems through projects such as the GFIP in the short time that is currently the case.
Without this secondary source of income, motorists could wait for several years before work could begin on crucial projects. In the case of GFIP, any delays of this nature would have a serious impact on the economic growth of South Africa’s commercial and industrial heartland.
Sanral constantly works at utilising advances in technology for the benefit of road users. A case in point is the adoption and implementation of Intelligent Transport System Technology (ITS) on the GFIP. To derive the maximum benefits available from this technology, it also has been deployed as part of the Freeway Management Systems (FMS) in eThekwini (Durban) and Cape Town.
The system will not only benefit road users through the reduction of congestion and improved travel experiences, but also by assisting with incident management systems. These systems will provide a faster response time to incidents as well as improved safety and faster clearance of impediments to traffic flow.
In Gauteng, the ITS has been expanded to the R21, a strategic corridor providing access to OR Tambo International Airport from the north and south. The system covers a 43-kilometre section of the route and currently is being upgraded as part of the 185-kilometre GFIP.
As part of the first phase of this ITS project, 25 closed-circuit television cameras with wireless communications – of which six sites will be solar powered – will be placed along this route.
Other components such as variable message signs (VMS) and traffic detection equipment will be procured through separate contracts, and interim mobile VMS will be deployed specifically to meet the demands of 2010, when the Fifa Soccer World Cup is hosted in South Africa.
This project is an extension of the current FMS which includes the N1, N3, N12 and N17 freeways. The footprint and extent of the ITS network mirrors the extent of Phase 1 of the GFIP, and its activities have been one of the predominant contributing factors to the disruption of the existing communications network and increased cable theft.
In our efforts to minimise disruptions and protect the assets, a comprehensive service level agreement has been entered into between Sanral and the relevant service provider.
In addition, a traffic information website has been developed to complement the ITS in Gauteng. Eventually, this website will cover the entire road network, including Cape Town and eThekwini.
Sanral is an organisation that is intimately involved in the economic and social development of South Africa through the provision of infrastructure, and realises that it also has an obligation to support wider programmes aimed at community development. This is something I am personally very passionate about.
Here at Sanral, our community development philosophy and implementation model has been structured to support international and national initiatives such as the international Millennium Development Goals, aimed at reducing global poverty, and the South African government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa, which is aimed at redressing some of the cause of abject poverty within the country.
Sanral believes community development implies that both concrete and abstract human needs must be addressed through a carefully considered learning process. The organisation’s philosophy is that communities should receive lifelong benefits which contribute to a better life for all. This lifelong benefit could range from a safe road surface on a busy highway, to a bridge that offers remote communities access to schools and clinics – but above all, that it must be a benefit which reaches everyone within an impacted community.
We believe that communities along the nation road networks are key to finding safer road solutions.
In 2009, Sanral worked on a project to help ensure “Safe Routes to Schools” along the R300 in Cape Town. The primary objective of the project is to create an interest in road safety by the learners and then to enable them to use these skills to propose solutions for local problems.
The learners, in teams, represent their schools.
A one-day workshop is offered by Sanral to guide them through the research process and to give guidelines for the project to be undertaken.
The learners were given 10 weeks subsequent to the workshop to conduct their research, find solutions to their local problems and prepare their presentations.
Sanral entered into a partnership with the City of Cape Town, which undertook to build the infrastructure identified by the winning school. The four finalist schools each received laboratory equipment and in addition, the winning school formed part of the Targeting Talent programme that is sponsored by Sanral and offered by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
Nazir Alli
Chief executive officer
South African National Roads Agency Ltd
