South African National Roads Agency

The South African National Roads Agency Limited or SANRAL is a South African parastatal responsible for the management, maintenance and development of South Africa's national road network.

History

SANRAL was created by The South African National Roads Agency Limited and National Roads Act, 1998 as a corporatized successor to the South African Roads Board, which was part of the Department of Transport. It was registered as a public limited company on 19 May 1998.

In 2011, SANRAL became the target of popular resentment as tolling was about to commence on many of SANRAL's freeways in Gauteng, in order to finance their soon to be completed expansions, as part of the first phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project. The GFIP was instituted to deal with the severe traffic congestion in Gauteng's freeways .

Governance

SANRAL's only shareholder is the state, represented by the Minister of Transport. The agency is governed by an eight-member Board of Directors. Five voting members – the chairperson and four others – are appointed by the Minister of Transport for a term of three years. Two government officials are non-voting members, one from the Department of Transport and nominated by the Minister of Transport, and the other from the National Treasury and nominated by the Minister of Finance. The Chief Executive Officer, who is appointed by the Minister of Transport on the recommendation of the Board, is ex officio a non-voting member of the Board.