CT city council asks high court to stop Winelands toll project

DA-led Cape Town city council has applied to the Western Cape High Court for an interdict to stop the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) from proceeding with the R10bn N1-N2 Winelands toll road project, arguing that road users will overburden the city's streets as they try to avoid paying tolls.

Additional traffic volumes may cost the city R100m over and above its normal maintenance budgets, said the Cape Town city council, while capital investment of R200m-R400m would be needed on secondary, provincial-owned roads.

The Winelands toll road project - scheduled to begin in February next year - is the second major Sanral project to run into difficulties, after strong opposition in Gauteng forced Sanral to delay the introduction of tolls on the province's highways by a year. Sanral has also delayed the second phase of the Gauteng 560km-long Freeway Improvement Project, having completed only 200km in the first phase. Recently, the Democratic Alliance (DA) started a campaign for a toll-free Gauteng.

The Cape Town city council asked the court to find that there was a dispute between Sanral and the council in order to start a dispute resolution process. If the court finds there is a dispute, Sanral will be forced to halt the project. Sanral has denied there is any dispute between itself and the city. CEO Nazir Alli said Sanral was "very disappointed that the city has decided to do this as we have been co-operating with them and interacting with them on their concerns".

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