TRANSPORT Minister Ben Martins has slammed people who criticised the construction of a road network near President Jacob Zuma's KwaZulu-Natal homestead at Nkandla at a cost of R582-million.

In an interview with Sowetan, Martins said the 250km road network was constructed to benefit local entrepreneurs and the general public.

He said the roads in the area were in a poor condition and damaged the private vehicles and taxis that transported the people of Nkandla.

"The project was rolled out by the KwaZulu-Natal government as part of the improvement of the infrastructure in the area. If the road happens to pass President Jacob Zuma's house, so be it," he said.

Martins questioned why the opening of a road at Pienaarskloof in Western Cape two weeks ago did not spark controversy.

He also lashed out at critics of the Gauteng e-tolling system, saying it was nonsensical to argue that the ANC government had no right to toll road users for refurbishing freeways that were built by the apartheid government.

"It is nonsense ... it is a poor and ill-informed argument. There were no tarred roads in Soweto and Alexandra during apartheid," Martins said.

He said it was highly unlikely that the tolling gantries would be disassembled once the South African National Roads Agency's R20-billion debt for the highway upgrades had been recovered.

The toll money collected would then be used to upgrade the roads regularly, he said.

Martins said his department was working on improving the public transport system in South Africa.

"Our objective is to greatly improve the standard of Metrorail trains so that they are efficient, reliable, clean and dignified so that anyone will want to travel in them,"Martins said.

"We are working on getting the public transport synergy correct so that people would be able to leave their cars at home and use trains, buses and taxis to head to work."

- sibanyonim@sowetan.co.za