How the user-pays principle works
Innovative approaches to tolling such as mileage-based fees and congestion pricing are promising
For hundreds of years, governments around the world have used tolling on roads as a means to fund construction and maintenance. SA is no different, and the user-pays principle provides a means for the sustainable funding of road infrastructure to ensure the maintenance of existing roads and construction of new ones.
Until 1935, the responsibility for road construction and maintenance in SA resided with provincial and local authorities, with the national government focusing mainly on the development and maintenance of the national rail system. However, with the need for construction of new major roads connecting the country’s growing towns and cities, the responsibility for funding and financing of roads was transferred to the national government. In the early years after this change, funding for roads was drawn from an import tax on every litre of fuel. The collected funds were managed by the then newly created National Road Fund. ..
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