ETC Joint Venture wins South Africa’s largest Tolling project
TMT, in a joint venture with international Tolling partners, Kapsch TrafficCom, have been awarded the Gauteng Open Road Tolling project by the South African National Roads Agency. This is the first project of its type in South Africa and one of the largest in the world. The project covers the design and build of an Open Road Tolling System for the Gauteng Province, and a National Transaction Clearing House and Violations Processing Centre, valued at R1.16 billion. It also includes turnkey operations of the project for five to eight years thereafter.
Open Road Tolling, or Multi-Lane Freeflow Tolling, involves tolling on large motorways at high speeds. Vehicles do not stop at plazas, but rather get identified by gantries erected over the road and the toll transaction is processed against an account held in a back-office. The toll charges will be applied to all vehicles. Since there are no booms, usage of the road cannot be denied to a driver who doesn’t pay, so highly effective collection and enforcement operations are required to maximize compliance by the public and ensure the success of the project. This is particularly true in a non-compliant environment like South Africa.
TMT plays an active role in the toll system delivery and operations entity, and is specifically responsible for the development of the Violations Processing Centre system and related operations. This will probably be the largest operation of its type in the world, and a complex process combining debt recovery and legislated collection processes under the AARTO Act will be followed. TMT will equip an extensive on-road enforcement presence to be deployed together with a large back-office operation.
The award of this tender, against fierce competition from a number of local and international groups, is testament to the effort put into developing this business by TMT and Kapsch over a period of more than three years, and to the operational and technical capability, experience and confidence that both parties bring to the project. It promises to be a challenging and exciting project and a world leader in many respects.
