The e-tolling system causing a political outcry across South Africa has won the 2013 Toll Excellence Award, despite it not even being operational yet.
HumanIPO reported on Friday more than 300 cars had taken part in the latest e-toll protest and South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL), with the government, have repeatedly come under fire from opposition parties and pressure groups to halt the process of starting the fundraising initiative.
But SANRAL announced yesterday it had been recognised in the Toll category by the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA). Currently the only system in place is the use of e-tags at N1/N4 Bakwena toll plazas, although this incorporated a manual tolling system.
Nazir Alli, SANRAL chief executive officer (CEO), said: “[It] underlined the excellence of the work the agency is doing on the national roads of South Africa, in particular the inter-operability of the e-toll system on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP).”
SANRAL nominated itself for the award and were up against entries from IBTTA’s 26 member countries. In its nomination, SANRAL described itself as “world class”.
One of the requirements to enter was the need for a system to have been in operation for 12 months.’
Despite e-tolling not being operational due to a series of court battles, SANRAL spokesperson Vusi Mona justified the entry by saying: “The Open Road Toll (ORT) system has been running live for over a year, even though toll collection did not commence. Since September 2012, the system has been inter-operable with Bakwena, in other words, running live with electronic toll collection being carried at the Bakwena Toll plazas.”
