Experience

Experience

Our Experience

South African Experience

Tolplan rendered significant toll consulting services in South Africa from the inception of modern toll roads in 1982. During this period the company rendered toll consulting services to the South African Roads Board and the National Roads Agency (SANRAL) in respect of more than 20 state toll roads. Furthermore, toll consulting services were provided to SANRAL in respect of four half-a-billion US dollar Build-Operate-Transfer projects embarked upon by the SANRAL since 1994.

Tolplan, therefore, provided significant consulting contributions to the establishment, development and operation.

International Experience

Greece

Tolplan acted as the toll expert for the Independent Engineer on the Athens northern bypass motorway (Elefsina – Stavros – Spata Airport Motorway & Imittos Western Peripheral Motorway) with its 38 toll plazas. It involves reviewing the operational procedures, functional specifications, conceptual and basic planning and detailed design of toll collection equipment, management information systems and modern urban traffic management systems, including:

automatic incident detection
CCTV surveillance
emergency telephones
over-height detection system
tunnel control systems like CO and opacity monitoring, leaky cables for cellular phone reception, lane control signs, variable speed message signs, a public address system, tunnel control rooms, etc.
variable message signs
traffic loggers
meteorological stations
a central operations and maintenance centre with a traffic management computer system, CCTV monitors and a video wall
a communication system to all toll plazas and equipment along the road

The company also performed a project to standardise the Electronic and Automatic (Smart Card) Fare Collection system of Greece in order to achieve interoperability country-wide. The project included:

The review of the latest practices and technologies used in Europe and the world
Determination of Greek practices
Recording of the needs of the different role players in Greece and compiling a User Requirement Specification
The definition and financial / technical analysis of feasible alternative solutions
Operational procedures
Detailed Design
Drafting of tender documents
Project Budget
Determination of evaluation criteria for tender evaluation

Kenya

Tolplan was responsible for an investigation into the financial feasibility of road concessioning in Kenya. This World Bank funded project investigated conventional tolling, shadow tolling and development partner funding as potential funding sources for road concessions in Kenya.

Significant tariff investigations and financial modelling to determine potential project viability were undertaken.

Mozambique

Tolplan performed the following consulting services in respect of two mainline toll plazas that form part of the Maputo Corridor BOT project

for the Construction Joint Venture SBB:

the design and construction supervision of the two toll plazas
the design of toll collection equipment, a toll management information system and a traffic management system for the Maputo Corridor route.

Poland

Tolplan acted as the toll system expert in the Independent Engineer’s team and reviewed the implementation of the toll collection system and video, voice and data networks implementation on the A4 highway between Katowice and Krakow.

Hungary

The following services were rendered to an international French/Austrian toll road concessionaire in respect of the 2 mainline and 4 ramp toll plazas, 2 operations centres and road systems on the 95 km M5 Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project between Budapest and Szeged:

Civil design and construction supervision
Electrical and mechanical design and construction supervision
Toll collection and motorway traffic management systems design and supervision
Fibre optic communications backbone design and supervision

Brazil

Services rendered to the concessionaires of the Linha Amarella and Rio Teresopolis BOT projects near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil included:

Linha Amarella
- Planning of mainline toll plaza with express ETC lanes
- Sizing and layout of mainline plaza
- Auditing of civil engineering and specialist toll aspects of toll plaza design
- Toll equipment and management information systems design and procurement supervision
- Traffic management system design and procurement supervision
Rio Teresopolis
- Equipment design and procurement supervision for mainline plaza with dedicated ETC lanes
- Management information system design and procurement supervision

Malaysia

The design of a toll management information system and traffic management system for development and installation on a Malaysian toll road.

New Zealand

Tolplan also executed the following Open Road Tolling projects for Transit New Zealand:

New Zealand National Toll Administration Project: Cost Estimation
Tolplan provided the toll expertise in the team that estimated the transaction cost for the planned interoperable ORT implementation on the first three planned toll roads in New Zealand. This transaction cost was based on a conceptual design of the business architecture and the toll collection and clearing system and a cost estimate of the system and operational costs.

New Zealand National Toll Administration Project: Specification and Tender Documentation
Tolplan compiled the specification and tender documentation for Transit New Zealand for the appointment of the contractor for the design and project development of their National Toll Administration Project to control the Back-office, Electronic Number Plate Enforcement System, Customer Service and Call Centres and clearing of funds between operators of the ORT Systems on all New Zealand toll roads, the planned Electronic Road User Charging System and the Travel Demand Management System.

New Zealand National Toll Administration Project: Website and Cost Estimate for Manual Tolling
Tolplan provided Transit New Zealand with frequently asked questions and answers for use on their web-site and in their public participation processes when implementing tolling and specifically Open Road Tolling and calculated the cost of a manual toll collection system for the first toll route in New Zealand.

Toll Policy, Financing and Tariff Studies

Tolplan has been responsible for several major toll policy studies in South Africa for the South African Roads Board and the National Roads Agency, as detailed below:

Policy study into toll financing principles and policies worldwide, for potential application in South Africa 1982
Policy study into an increased role for toll financing through tolling of all motorways in South Africa and financial feasibility issues 1991
Policy and financial feasibility study into the refinancing of the then existing South African toll roads 1994-96
Policy study into an increased role for the private sector in toll financing and issues regarding the tolling of existing roads and financial feasibility study into tolling of existing roads 1995
Policy study into the restructuring of heavy vehicle toll tariffs 1999
Policy and financial feasibility study into tolling a network of 3 400 km of national and provincial roads 2000

Three policy and financial feasibility studies have also been undertaken for the Gauteng Province of South Africa, involving:

A toll policy study
Financial feasibility studies into the tolling of urban motorways using:
combination of traditional tolling and ETC
free flow tolling

Since the inception of State toll roads in South Africa in 1984, the company was responsible on an annual basis for the revision of the financial evaluations of State toll roads, i.e. the revision of the so-called Loans Supportable by Revenue (LSRs) of toll projects. The company has also assisted the South African Roads Board and the National Roads Agency on an annual basis since 1984 in the revision of toll tariffs for all State toll roads.

Existing State Toll Roads

The following services were rendered for more than 20 conventional toll projects:

Modelling of traffic reaction to toll
Financial feasibility studies
Technical support services in respect of toll road public participation exercises
Multi-disciplinary planning, design, tender documentation/adjudication and construction supervision/contract management in respect of toll facilities
Planning, design, tender documentation / adjudication and contract management / supervision of procurement, installation and maintenance of toll collection and CCTV systems and fibre voice, data and video links to remote ramp plazas
The preparation of user and functional requirements for the development, installation, support and enhancement of the toll management information systems in use at all South African toll plazas
Preparation of toll and road operating and maintenance specifications, tender documentation/adjudication and contract management and supervision of toll and road operations and maintenance

Tolplan performed traffic and financial feasibility studies since 1983 in respect of more than 20 existing toll road sections in South Africa. Its success in this field is confirmed by the fact that the actual traffic volumes and financial performance of the SANRAL toll road portfolio has been better than predicted.

Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Toll Projects

Since 1994 the South African National Roads Agency implemented the following 4 major BOT projects:

N4 Maputo Corridor (440 km)
N3 Heidelberg – Pietermaritzburg Toll Road (450 km)
N4 Platinum Toll Road (400 km)
N1/N2 Winelands Toll Highway (180km)

Tolplan played an important role in advising and assisting the South African National Roads Agency in respect of these four major Southern African Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects. The services offered in respect of these projects include:

investigation of alternative toll strategies
prediction of traffic reaction to toll
traffic and financial viability studies
pre-qualification documentation
tender documentation i.r.o. the “traffic and toll strategy”, tolling systems and operations elements of the project
tender adjudication of the “traffic and toll strategy” element during the following tender phases:
- pre-qualification
- pre-selection of final two bidders
- Best and Final Offer” (BAFO) phase

The South African National Roads Agency also appointed Tolplan to perform the same role as indicated above for the N2 Durban – East London BOT project (550km). Tolplan has already performed the toll strategy investigation, traffic studies and the prediction of traffic reaction to toll for the N2 Durban – East London project.

Other services rendered by Tolplan in respect of BOT projects in Southern Africa were/are:

The design and construction supervision of toll facilities, specifically within the BOT context with its Independent Engineer – Concessionaire – Design and Construction Contractor relationships, for the 440 km N4 Maputo Corridor toll projects
Preliminary and detailed design of the toll collection, toll management information and traffic management systems along the N4 Maputo Corridor
As part of the team of the Independent Engineer, the evaluation of toll plaza and systems designs, operations and maintenance for the 450km N3 BOT contract between Heidelberg and Pietermaritzburg.

Planned toll roads

Between 1999 and 2003 Tolplan was responsible for an investigation into the possible tolling of 3 400 km of existing South African national and provincial roads in order to fund their upgrade, rehabilitation and/or maintenance for a 30 year period. It involved detailed traffic surveys, roadside interviews, traffic modelling with emphasis upon traffic reaction to toll, formulation and investigation of alternative toll strategies and financial feasibility investigations with emphasis upon funding methods involving non State guaranteed funding such as securitisation. Based, inter alias, upon these studies, the South African National Roads Agency adopted a 7-year toll road implementation plan.

Open Road Tolling (ORT) Experience

Tolplan was, and still is, involved in the implementation of currently the largest ORT project in the world and the largest contract ever awarded by the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL). It consists of the following aspects:

Gauteng Open Road Tolling Scheme Traffic, Technology and Financial Feasibility Study (upgrading of ±185km of urban freeways)

Tolplan was appointed by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) to investigate an appropriate Open Road Tolling Strategy, perform traffic investigations, including SATURN modelling, model traffic reaction to tolling, investigate the application of the Open Road Tolling technology, estimate the operating costs of the Open Road Tolling system as well as that of a national Transaction Clearing House (TCH) and a national Violations Processing Centre (VPC) and perform detailed financial modelling, including determination of the predicted debt service cover ratios and maximum debt levels for the projects. Subsequent to the initial feasibility study in 2007/2008, the study was updated a few times and a major update, including investigation into discount strategies, is currently being undertaken. Based on these feasibility studies, SANRAL is procuring loans of ±R30 billion to fund the initial upgrade of the 185km of Gauteng motorways.

Gauteng ORT and National TCH and VPC Toll Systems and Operations Design, Tender Documentation and Supervision

Tolplan performed the conceptual and detailed design and the< tender documentation of the Toll Systems (a R1300million system) and the Gauteng Open Road Tolling Operations and Maintenance, as well as the Operations and Maintenance of the national Transaction Clearing House (TCH) and the Violations Processing Centre (VPC) for 8 years for SANRAL. This involved the efforts of a multi-disciplinary team of ±30 professional persons to deliver the largest contract ever awarded by SANRAL. The system includes 42 Tolling Points and 14 Customer Service Centres. The national Transaction Clearing House provides customers with one account regardless of which toll authority’s roads are used, a national ETC website and a national Call Centre. Tags will be sold by commercial outlets and customer service will be provided at about 40 kiosks in shopping centres.

Gauteng ORT and National TCH and VPC Toll Infrastructure Design, Tender Documentation and Site Supervision

Tolplan was responsible for the multi-disciplinary project management and civil, structural, electrical, mechanical and electronic engineering design, tender documentation and adjudication of the toll infrastructure and is currently responsible for the site supervision. The infrastructure includes:

42 Tolling points involving 84 cross-motorway – gantries, technical shelters and platforms
A 20,000m Central Operations Centre (housing the – ORT, TCH and VPC control function)
14 Satellite Centres (housing customer service, route operations, facilities maintenance and enforcement operations