The Anti Voter Apathy (AVAP) has proposed that the utilization of road levy funds be de-centralized.
AVAP Executive Director Bonny Tembo says this is because some parts of the country are starved of funds collected locally.
Mr. Tembo told ZANIS in an interview that infrastructure development has severely been hampered by lack of funds.
He cited the Mansa-Nchelenge road which is in a deplorable state despite colossal sums money being collected from use of the road.
Mr. Tembo called upon the central government to allow Nchelenge District to collect road levy from heavy loaded which are passing through Mansa-Nchelenge road and use the same revenue to repair the road.
He expressed worry that if the road is not attended to with a sense of urgency, human life could be lost.
Mr. Tembo said presently when revenue is collected in the area, it is used elsewhere to the disadvantage of the local people and to the detriment of the local infrastructure.
He said it is sad that money collected in the locality is not taken back for road maintenance and other infrastructure development.
Please stop stealing, help the poor, otherwise God will curse you as he cursed the Israelites!!!!!!!!!
What Tembo is saying can be tried although i would propose that only 30% of the total collected road levy be retained by the council. The rest of the fund should be used elsewhere.
The problem with such a proposal is that with the kind of councils we have the funds will be abused. Its a good idea though but I doubt as to whether it can work with such cash strapped councils that we have
The only way forward is to re-look at the KK way of doing things and go back to the Roads depts with improvements ofcourse in each province so that at least we will have our road worked on every year i.e those that are not tarred and try to put tar in most of the roads.
The above are brilliant ideas but implementation like has been said with the cash strapped councils we will just be hearing that the funds have been used elsewhere and some gone into peoples endless pockets.
Decentralisation is not a bad idea. The first step is to get an idea of how much might be earned. So let’s get some students to sample the vehicle statistics. If viable the next thing would be to put in place structures and systems, to train staff and to test the systems after which there should be a mechanism of support and timely audit of systems and structures.
A friend recently came back from Katanga Province in the Congo and it is working there. Road rehabilitation is working and so is road levy. Why can it not work in Zambia?