| (1) | Subject to the provisions of this section, the Agency— |
| (a) | with the Minister’s approval— |
| (i) | may declare any specified national road or any specified portion thereof, including any bridge or tunnel on a national road, to be a toll road for the purposes of this Act; and |
| (ii) | may amend or withdraw any declaration so made; |
| (b) | for the driving or use of any vehicle on a toll road, may levy and collect a toll the amount of which has been determined and made known in terms of subsection (3), which will be payable at a toll plaza by the person so driving or using the vehicle, or at any other place subject to the conditions that the Agency may determine and so make known; |
| (c) | may grant exemption from the payment of toll on a particular toll road— |
| (i) | in respect of all vehicles of a category determined by the Agency and specified in a notice in terms of subsection (2), or in respect of the vehicles of a category so determined and specified which are driven or used on the toll road at a time so determined and specified; |
| (ii) | to all users of the road of a category determined by the Agency and specified in such a notice, irrespective of the vehicles driven or used by them on the toll road, or to users of the road of a category so determined and specified when driving or using any vehicles on the toll road at a time so determined and specified; |
| (d) | may restrict the levying of toll on a particular toll road to the hours or other times determined by the Agency and specified in such a notice; |
| (e) | may suspend the levying of toll on a particular toll road for any specified or unspecified period, whether in respect of all vehicles generally, or in respect of all vehicles of a category determined by the Agency and specified in such a notice, and resume the levying of toll after the suspension; |
| (f) | may withdraw the following, namely— |
| (i) | any exemption under paragraph (c); |
| (ii) | any restriction under paragraph (d); |
| (iii) | any suspension under paragraph (e). |
| (2) | A declaration, amendment, withdrawal, exemption, restriction or suspension under subsection (1), will become effective only 14 days after a notice to that effect by the Agency has been published in the Gazette. |
| (3) | The amount of toll that may be levied under subsection (1), any rebate thereon and any increase or reduction thereof— |
| (a) | is determined by the Minister on the recommendation of the Agency; |
| (b) | may differ in respect of— |
| (ii) | different vehicles or different categories of vehicles driven or used on a toll road; |
| (iii) | different times at which any vehicle or any vehicle of a particular category is driven or used on a toll road; |
| (iv) | different categories of road users, irrespective of the vehicles driven or used by them; |
| (c) | must be made known by the head of the Department by notice in the Gazette; |
| (d) | will be payable from a date and time determined by the Minister on the recommendation of the Agency, and must be specified in that notice. However, that date may not be earlier than 14 days after the date on which that notice was published in the Gazette. |
| (4) | The Minister will not give approval for the declaration of a toll road under subsection (1)(a), unless— |
| (a) | the Agency, in the prescribed manner, has given notice, generally, of the proposed declaration, and in the notice— |
| (i) | has given an indication of the approximate position of the toll plaza contemplated for the proposed toll road; |
| (ii) | has invited interested persons to comment and make representations on the proposed declaration and the position of the toll plaza, and has directed them to furnish their written comments and representations to the Agency not later than the date mentioned in the notice. However, a period of at least 30 days must be allowed for that purpose; |
| (b) | the Agency in writing— |
| (i) | has requested the Premier in whose province the road proposed as a toll road is situated, to comment on the proposed declaration and any other matter with regard to the toll road (and particularly, as to the position of the toll plaza) within a specified period (which may not be shorter than 60 days); and |
| (ii) | has given every municipality in whose area of jurisdiction that road is situated the same opportunity to so comment; |
| (c) | the Agency, in applying for the Minister’s approval for the declaration, has forwarded its proposals in that regard to the Minister together with a report on the comments and representations that have been received (if any). In that report the Agency must indicate the extent to which any of the matters raised in those comments and representations have been accommodated in those proposals; and |
| (d) | the Minister is satisfied that the Agency has considered those comments and representations. |
Where the Agency has failed to comply with paragraph (a), (b) or (c), or if the Minister is not satisfied as required by paragraph (d), the Minister must refer the Agency’s application and proposals back to it and order its proper compliance with the relevant paragraph or (as the case may be) its proper consideration of the comments and representations, before the application and the Agency’s proposals will be considered for approval.
| (5) | Any person liable for toll who, at a toll plaza or other place for the payment of toll determined and made known in terms of subsection (1), refuses or fails to pay the amount of toll that is due— |
| (a) | is guilty of an offence and punishable on conviction with imprisonment for a period not longer than six months or a fine, or with both the term of imprisonment and the fine; and |
| (b) | is liable, in addition, to pay to the Agency a civil fine of R1 000. This amount may be increased in 1999 and annually thereafter in accordance with the increase in the official consumer price index for the relevant year as published in the Gazette. |
| (6) | Any national road or portion of a national road (including any bridge or tunnel thereon) which under section 9 of the previous Act had been declared a toll road for the purposes of that Act and which immediately before the incorporation date exists and is operated as such under the previous Act, will be regarded and treated for all purposes as if it had been declared a toll road under subsection (1) of this section. |
