No tolerance for corruption at Sanral, Nazir Alli tells e-toll panel

Sanral will not tolerate any form of corruption or collusion in the implementation of its tenders and programmes, the CEO of the agency, Nazir Alli, told the Gauteng Review Panel today.

Referring to recent findings by the Competition Tribunal, which reported on collusion in the construction industry, Alli said Sanral was the only government agency he is aware of that declared its intention to recover money from private sector companies that were involved.

"We have a zero tolerance approach to tender rigging and corruption. We do not tolerate collusion. Not at Sanral," Alli said.

The Tribunal last year fined 15 construction companies a combined R1.46 billion after an investigation into collusion, mostly involving the building of stadiums for the 2010 World Cup.

Following the release of the Tribunal's report, Sanral said it is outraged by the collusive behaviour of construction companies. "They have breached our trust and acted against the public interest."

Alli said the contract for the construction and management of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) and the e-toll system is a public document and freely available to the panel and interested organisations. In fact, it has been available on the Sanral Web site for many months, he said.

Furthermore, Sanral's financial model for the GFIP was reviewed by independent external auditors at the request of the Gauteng Provincial Government; and the model was found to be sound.

Referring to the decision by Government to fund the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project through e-tolls, Alli said this was the only option available at the time. Sanral could only do it through private sector funding because there was no money available from the fiscus and without the road network "the Gauteng economy would have choked".

An alternative funding model through the fuel levy was considered by government, but government's studies show that it will be inequitable.