Johannesburg - Gauteng wants to build a new 35km freeway that bypasses Gillooly's Farm, but authorities want public discussions first on how to pay for it.
“The department is planning to build the 35km long PWV15 to support the development of an aerotropolis at OR Tambo International Airport,” said Transport MEC Ismail Vadi.
“What is needed is for all of us to have a sensible, rational and pragmatic conversation about how this new, mega road project is to be funded.”
Vadi tables his Transport Department budget in the Gauteng Legislature today, telling the MPLs of the hoped-for new freeway.
He said the strategic project would have a multiplier effect on the eastern corridor.
“Apart from alleviating traffic congestion, it will accelerate the development of the Aerotropolis and enhance the adjacent land value along the route for housing, industrial and commercial development,” said Vadi.
Easing the pressure at Gillooly’s
“It would serve as a catalyst to modernise the road network in the eastern corridor, unlock economic opportunities through the revitalisation of the manufacturing sector in Ekurhuleni, allow for the free flow of freight traffic from the N3 to the N1 freeways, and greatly relieve traffic pressure at the Gillooly’s Interchange, which has been superbly upgraded by Sanral through the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project.”
Gillooly’s has e-toll gantries so a road around it could ease traffic congestion and commuter costs, unless the new freeway is also tolled. No further details on the new freeway were available.
The plan is so new that it’s not yet in the budget, there are no details of where it will be and there are neither timelines nor costs. No decisions have been made on a funding model, so there is time for public debate. Preliminary designs are expected later this year.
According to Gauteng’s 25-year Integrated Transport Master Plan, the PWV15 would be a 4-lane freeway running north to south on the eastern side of the airport linking the R21, N12, N17 and N3, and would be part of a new Gauteng ring-road. The cost estimate was R1.55 billion and listed as part of phase 2 of the GFIP.
Thorny subject
Paying for freeways is a thorny subject in Gauteng, with public resistance to paying e-tolls for the upgraded freeways used substantially by commuters. Although that was a national project, run by Sanral, it caused such anger that Gauteng had to set up months of public consultation after the fact and the national government dropped the charges and offered discounts on bad debts to encourage payments.
Vadi’s department has a budget for 2016/17 of R7.3bn, which includes R2.3bn for capital expenditure. Just R252 million of the capital budget is available for new infrastructure; the rest is for repairs, maintenance, refurbishment and upgrades of existing infrastructure.
The department is the biggest contributor to the revenue fund, as motor vehicle licences are expected to bring in R3.1bn this year. The transport infrastructure budget - for building and maintaining roads - is R2.6bn for both operational and capital expenditure.
The transport operations budget - mostly for subsidising public transport - is R2.3bn for operational and capital expenditure; this subsidises 34 bus contracts for 99.9 million kilometres on 3130 routes.
Vadi’s budget juggles funds for rail (the Gautrain subsidy), roads (phase 2 of the R82 valued at R259m was opened on Wednesday), those who don’t own cars (bus subsidies, the Shovakalula bicycle programme and pedestrian walkways) and a new Transport Authority to co-ordinate it all.
The department’s capital budget lists 161 projects.
Vadi wants facilities for non-motorised transport and public transport as 11 percent of people walk all the way to work or to study and while there are already 4.5 million cars in Gauteng, more than half the households don’t have anyone with a driving licence and two-thirds of households don’t own a car.
“The average travel time to work and back home has increased markedly from 32 minutes in 2000 to 46 minutes in 2014,” he said.
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