The Ridge Mouth
I love the spirited comments of one of our letter writers, who wrote in on his feelings regarding the placement of the new toll road just outside the King Shaka International Airport, on the N2 heading towards Durban.
What struck me the other day after coughing more than a hundred hard earned bucks for parking at the airport (and no, I’m not one of the well-heeled elite, jet setting off to high level meetings) is that an extra R4 really hurt. It felt like being skopped in the backside after losing a rugby match… and then having to buy the beers.
Here’s some of what our letter writer had to say. “I’m delighted Acsa has taken heed of the concern about the Barn Swallows, and visible efforts have been made to protect these courageous little birds from what might have been certain death. Less concern, however, has been given to plain old humans.
“Why on earth should anyone have to pay a R4 toll when leaving the airport? I thought the whole toll idea was abandoned from the word go – so how did this slimy, sneaky, scuzzy little toll manage to sneak through – and who benefits from it?”
Well slimy and scuzzy are perhaps a little strong, but certainly, as a consumer, there appears to be a slightly sneaky aspect to erecting a toll gate smack-bang outside the airport. Why couldn’t the powers that be have built the cost into the already exorbitant parking charges. What exactly are we paying for? Surely the beautiful new road leading to the airport should have come out of someone’s budget? Moan, moan. Tsk, Tsk.
“There was absolutely nothing wrong with the old Durban International Airport, and I reckon the government’s vision of hordes of massive international aeroplanes arriving at and departing from King Shaka airport is just that: a vision, and an expensive one at that,” says our letter writer. “But then they can always compensate for the lack of air traffic by upping the toll fees – watch this space!”
Add to this irritating little tax all the toll fees in the eThekwini and KZN region and the bundles we pay on various transport-related taxes and . . . ouch . . . that really hurts.
Here’s hoping though that the state-of-the-art King Shaka International Airport is a success, that it can provide and sustain jobs and that the Dube Tradeport manages to drum up the business and entrepreneurial spirit so desperately needed in this region.
The Ridge Mouth will be a regular contributor to this site. Send your thoughts to studio@famouspublishing.co.za