The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) announced on Friday that it had awarded a R1,16-billion contract to the Electronic Toll Collection joint venture (ETC) for the implementation and operation of a multilane free-flow tolling system in Gauteng.

The system, also referred to as open-road tolling (ORT), would be installed by ETC over aperiod of 18 months and was scheduled to "go live" in April 2011. The ORT implementation was part of the larger multibillion rand Gauteng Freeway ImprovementProject, the first phase of which involved the upgrading of 185-km of freeways in Gauteng.

The motorways currently being upgraded as part of the current phase included sections ofthe N1, N3, N12 and R21.Sanral was investing more than R12-billion in the first phase. For the second phase, the Department of Transport planned to invest R20-billion, while R23-billion would be investedfor the final phase.

An ORT solution had been envisaged from the project's outset in a bid to enforce the "user-pays" principle, while avoiding the creation of physical toll plazas that would requireroad users to slow down or stop.

Electronic equipment at tolling points would collect the information necessary to allow Sanral to charge and collect tariffs from highway users. It is understood that some 42 tolling points would feature two gantries housing etag or licence-plate readers, vehicle classification equipment and cameras, as well as a technical equipment shelter.

No revenue could be collected during construction, however, with funding for the project being raised through the issuance of bonds under Sanral's Domestic Medium Term Note programme, as well as capital raised from other sources such as development finance institutions.



Source:Engineering News