South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) CEO Nazir Alli has warned of the potential financial consequences of failing to properly maintain and develop infrastructure, emphasising the importance of the role of state-owned enterprises in infrastructure development.

His warning comes as Sanral continues to engage with stakeholders on the implementation of the electronic tolling system (e-tolls) which government expects to start operating in Gauteng.

Alli told the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research biannual conference in Pretoria last Wednesday that, as a state enterprise, Sanral had the role of implementing state policy.

“I think we have not been asking the most important question around this matter. I believe the important question is, what happens if we have not improved on infrastructure investment? We should be asking about the consequences of not investing in that infrastructure,” he said.

Alli said he did not believe Sanral was being made a scapegoat in the contentious e-tolling debate.

“I don’t think we are a scapegoat. We implement policy and these things just come with the territory. Our drive will always be to maintain assets. If we don’t maintain these assets they will deteriorate and we won’t be able to afford maintaining them.” Stakeholder engagements around e-tolling would continue this week, Alli said.

He said challenges affecting Sanral in its operations included managing expenditure effectively, allocation for efficiencies and lobby groups.

The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance on Friday maintained its position on e-tolling, saying it was still adamant e-tolling was not the best way to collect funds from road users.

Alli said state-owned enterprises were important to industrial development and it was important that they be properly run.

“I believe if everyone does what they are meant to there won’t be a need for key performance indicators. If everyone does a day’s work things will run as they should,” he said.

Stakeholders in talks with Sanral over e-tolling include the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which has opposed the tolling drive as it believes workers who commute daily will be disadvantaged.

Source: Business Day