The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has appointed an independent estimator and independent economist to calculate the damages suffered by the agency as a result of alleged collusive tendering on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), to substantiate a decision on whether to pursue claims against any of the contractors, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters said in a Parliamentary reply.

Responding to a question posed by the Democratic Alliance, the Minister stated that any claim for damages would have to be supported by facts and would have to be pleaded with a “great deal of particularity”.

Peters said that, in light of the amount of historical data that had to be collated and assessed, it was expected that the work undertaken by the specialists would be completed in six to nine months.

“Any monies recovered through [potential] legal proceedings will be used for purposes of maintaining the roads and repaying outstanding debt,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Minister said the e-toll system, including its billing, was stable, despite “initial teething problems” that hindered some GFIP users.

She noted that all of the problems experienced with the system initially, including slowness of the website, the need for additional payment options and invoices that were posted to incorrect addresses, had been managed to ensure the least possible impact on customers.

“However, the accuracy of information from the e-Natis contact details remain challenging because vehicle owners do not update [these] whenever their details change,” Peters lamented.

Sanral, in consultation with the Road Traffic Infringement Agency had made proposals to the Department of Transport (DoT) to improve the e-Natis data, the Minister added, stating that the approval of Regulation 32A, which dealt with an e-Natis Financial Intelligence Centre Act process, by the DoT, would assist in improving the accuracy of the data.