Pretoria - Incorrect billing concerns around e-tolls by road users and President Jacob Zuma have been noted, the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) said on Wednesday.
“We have been getting a number of complaints from road users about incorrect billing and some receiving bills when they have never used the e-roads, they tell us. We are taking these complaints very seriously and the whole matter is receiving our attention,” said Sanral CEO Nazir Alli.
President Zuma, in an interview with the SABC, expressed concern about incorrect billing in e-tolls. He said it was worrying that people who did not use the e-toll roads were also being billed.
Sanral said it has taken note of the concerns raised by the President.
Incorrect data on the e-Natis system and a few instances of cloned licence plates were some of the problems relating to billing on the system. Alli said this resulted in notices and invoices being sent out to the wrong persons.
“Considering the millions of transactions we handle per day, the problem is not that widespread. Of course, we appreciate that however less pronounced it may be in relation to the volumes of traffic on the e-roads, both the President and the Department of Transport would be concerned about citizens not getting the kind of service they deserve. It is against this background that we, together with the service provider Electronic Toll Company (ETC), are working hard to resolve these challenges,” he said.
ETC’s CEO Jamie Surkont said: “ETC recognises the concerns raised and would like to reassure both the President and the public that customer service is being enhanced using in part the findings of case studies initiated by ETC on some of the incidents profiled in the media over the last few weeks.
“We have allocated senior human resources to perform detailed case studies in an effort to identify any problems and the respective root cause. The findings have been interesting and have allowed us to consider changes to our customer management; and they have corroborated that the toll system is functioning as designed.”
Alli appealed to road users to make sure that their motor vehicles are registered and recorded on the national traffic information system (e-Natis).
“The law requires motorists to register and license their motor vehicles within 21 days after acquiring or changing ownership. The information we use for billing is taken from e-Natis. Through this project, we have an opportunity to update and clean up the e-Natis data and would appeal to motorists for their cooperation,” he said.
Sanral has formally responded to the President via the office of his Director General. - SAnews.gov.za
