Critical factors in respect to managing the e-toll road project in Gauteng, South Africa

Abstract

The premise of this article is to analyse the critical factors involved in managing the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP), with particular emphasis on the e-toll road project in South Africa. Managing an infrastructure development project can be a complex exercise that involves different participants, with a range of implications regarding the diverse interests, costs and performance involved. The need to establish infrastructure projects requires the facilitating of transport interconnections aimed at expediting the movement of people across South Africa. Gauteng adopted the e-toll model to improve the infrastructure connecting major freeways throughout the province, in order to accelerate growth and development in the region. This study is based on the assumption that infrastructural projects that aim to support development initiatives are affected by socio-economic and political factors. Using existing literature, this paper examines which critical factors related to the organisation, the project and to external forces were considered in embarking on the e-toll project. Findings from the study should contribute to improving prevailing levels of participatory development and project management.