SANRAL spent R5bn to collect R10b in e-tolls

It is estimated that the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has spent approximately R5.3-billion trying to recover e-tolls from motorists who are unwilling and unlikely to pay.

This is according to an analysis from the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA).

• Sanral has spent almost half the amount of money as it was trying to collect
• According to its financials, it spent R508 million on collecting e-tolls, which brought in over R660 million in revenue
• OUTA has estimated that it has cost the roads agency around R5.3 billion to operate the e-toll system
• Sanral’s financial statements show that it only hoped to collect around R10.5 billion from e-tolls since 2014
• Sanral didn’t recognise 50% or more of the e-toll bills it sent out every year as potential revenue
• Sanral effectively wrote off over R17 billion in e-toll revenue
• Of the amounts owing to Sanral for e-tolls, the roads agency only recognised around R9.8 billion in its most recent financial results as debt owed by motorists
• It is not known exactly how much Sanral pays for its contract with the Electronic Toll Collections (ETC) company, nor what its other administration costs for the e-toll system is