Pretoria, 23 June 2021 – The South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (SANRAL) has revised its rest and service facilities rates for the first time since its inception in 1998. The new rates took effect from 28 January 2021.
SANRAL’s long-term strategy, Horizon 2030 is the blueprint for its development over the next ten years and among the key strategic interventions is the adoption of an Integrated Funding Model which entails the generation of own revenue.
Furthermore, the diversification of revenue sources and the development of sustainable revenue streams from the identified business areas are among the key strategic objectives. SANRAL’s Business Development Strategy identifies key pillars and key focus areas through which SANRAL can derive or significantly increase its revenue. One of these is that of rest and service facilities.
“The previous levy/rate structure had been in existence since 1998 when SANRAL was officially formed. The revised rates were developed with the intention of ensuring fairness to the market for all parties,” explained Thabiso Malahleha, SANRAL’s Head of Strategy.
There is also an approved Rest and Service Facilities Policy which outlines the planning and technical requirements for potential developers. The revised rate card considers factors such as traffic, Gross Lettable Area, and location of the facility with regards to rural or urban. The intention is to also let out opportunities for development on SANRAL owned land through an open and competitive tender process.
“Noting that there may be cases where access to the facility is not direct, in the strict definition it is accessed through a SANRAL interchange which needs to be maintained accordingly,” continued Malahleha.
SANRAL will at intervals review both the policy and rate card to ensure reasonable alignment with the market. Noting that there are existing facilities with direct access off the national road network that do not have an agreement in place. A process to engage these facility owners or operators will be followed.