I am pleased that the ANC councillors and city manager Dr. Michael Sutcliffe are in agreement with the DA councillors in the eThekwini Municipal council with regards to the proposed southern toll booth on the N2 at Isipingo. I think that this proposed toll booth is ill-conceived and is going to impact negatively on commuters and residents.
There are many reasons why this new toll booth should be opposed by all concerned including the fact that so many of the poorest of the poor live in that area, and a daily commute to Durban and back is likely to cost them R16 a day.
Other than the surface streets and the R102 there is no real alternate route for those not wishing to use the new toll booth. The quality of these surface streets and the R102, I will refer to them as alternate routes for the purpose of clarity, are going to suffer increasing vehicle running costs.
The vehicles using these alternative routes will not just be cars but will include trucks; one only has to look at the M13 to see what happens to the road when large trucks avoiding the toll booth use these alternate routes that were not designed for these heavy vehicles.
There is a good possibility that this will adversely affect property values and may even lead to the areas along these routes being rezoned commercial.
Damage to road infrastructure on alternative routes, particularly the R102, is expected to increase by about R3.2-million by 2020. There is also an estimate that the potential increase in accidents on the alternate routes could amount from R360 million to R720 million between the years 2010 and 2020.
If you assume that 30% of the vehicles using the N2 do so for business purposes, that means that the toll fees alone will cost businesses R130,000 – R165,000 daily, and who do you think is ultimately going to pay that cost?…you and me, the consumer.
One report estimates that residents and workers will lose between R96-million and R102-million in disposable income. If households are shifting their spending to pay for these tolls it is definitely going to affect the economy.
As a footnote, I can’t help but wonder how the ANC feels now that the vast majority, including them, are opposed to this toll booth but SANRAL seems to be just trying to steam roll it through irrespective of the opposition. It reminds me a little of the street renaming where the majority that opposed the renaming were ignored and the ANC in council just steam rolled it through.
