It will take up to 18 months for government and the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) to implement the full spectrum of proposed tariff changes for users of Gauteng’s tolled freeways.

While Sanral would, on Wednesday, implement the “first part” of the new dispensation announced by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa in May, many of the revisions to the tariffs for using the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project roads would require extensive system changes and or legislative changes.

It was expected to take around three to four months for Transport Minister Dipuo Peters to decide on and gazette the effective date for the implementation of the promised 60% discount for all outstanding e-toll fees incurred since December 2013.

Linking the unpaid e-toll fees to motor vehicle licence renewals would take another 6 to 18 months to allow for sufficient time for legislative changes and extensive system changes to “simplify the process and ensure better integration of road management systems”, ensuring motorists seamlessly settled e-toll debt prior to the issuing of vehicle licence discs.

“We are working with the Department of Transport and have already started with the administrative and legal processes to implement the new dispensation.

“The implementation requires software and operational changes that must be implemented in accordance with best practices. We want to test these changes to the system thoroughly to ensure a smooth transition,” Sanral communications head Vusi Mona said.

Sanral would on Wednesday implement the new single-toll tariff for each vehicle class for registered and unregistered users, while the new monthly caps for registered users would be introduced and adjusted on the consumers’ accounts automatically.

Tagged motorists would be capped at a monthly fee of R225 for light motor vehicles – with the revised caps for other vehicle classes yet to be introduced – while all light motor vehicle users would be charged a standard tariff of 30c/km from July 1.

Sanral affirmed that there would be no charge for infrequent users who made less than 30 gantry passes a year; however, a tariff for the infrequent users that exceeded 30 gantry passes still needed to be gazetted, which would occur within the next six to eight months, as it also required system and administrative changes.

“The relief announced for road users that do not have a Sanral account will also become applicable once changes have been made to the system,” Mona noted.