Thursday, March 28, 2024

RDA to introduce toll fees for light vehicles by June this year

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A Bituminous Road in the Making; BSBK contractors working on one of the urban roads in Monze. Government through the Ministry of Local Government and Housing engaged BSBK to upgrade 15 kilometers of townsahip roads to bituminous standard at the cost of about K120,000
A Bituminous Road in the Making; BSBK contractors working on one of the urban roads in Monze. Government through the Ministry of Local Government and Housing engaged BSBK to upgrade 15 kilometers of townsahip roads to bituminous standard at the cost of about K120,000

Road Development Agency (RDA) will introduce toll fees for light vehicles by June this year.

RDA director and chief executive officer Bernard Chiwala said this when he appeared on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation’s Sunday Interview programme.

Mr Chiwala said collecting toll fees for light vehicles will help RDA to generate more revenue for road construction and maintenance.

“We have realised that we have more light vehicles in the country than big ones and we believe that introducing toll fees for light vehicles will give RDA more funds for road construction and maintenance,” Mr Chiwala said.

He said RDA last year raised K296 million from toll fees and exceeded its target of K250 million.

Mr Chiwala said RDA has targeted to raise K360 million from tolls fees this year.

And Mr Chiwala has attributed the high cost of road construction in Zambia to the country’s dependency on imported raw materials.

He said road construction equipment is imported and costly to acquire.

“The roads in the country are put up at a huge cost. For example, importing bitumen from Durban in South Africa involves spending a lot of money on transportation and it becomes worse when the Kwacha is not faring well,” Mr Chiwala said.

He said RDA is counting on Indeni Petroleum Refinery in Ndola to expedite construction of a bitumen plant to reduce the cost of bitumen.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Nonsense. Improve road infrastructure first.

    Cost of road construction in Zambia is high due to corruption. period.

    • I find the reasons for including light vehicles very inadequate . Its anybodys guess that there are more light vehicles on the road than any other type. A proper business case needs to be conducted before making such prouncements public.

      Next time they will tell us that they have reliased that they are more bicycles on road than light vehicles

  2. Wyman Kaluba is Tolls Manager at RDA great team Mr. Chiwala has constituted at RDA.

    All well meaning Zambians need to support this initiative

  3. Is Ratsa going to reduce cost of road tax, i thought road tax levy is meant for maintenance and construction of new roads.

  4. When I am entering your country with my foreign registered vehicle you tax me to death. I am sure those of you in the same shoes will attest. when you enter most foreign neighboring countries (excepting Zimbabwe which shares the same nonsense as you do) you hardly pay anything to get your vehicle into their country. Depending on which route you use, you don’t even suffer toll fees in most of these countries. Why don’t you find out what makes their systems work so well? And don’t even bring in population because a country like Namibia has the population lower than that of Lusaka City…

  5. This CEO is crazy..which causes more damage to the roads you build corruptly? Heavy or Light Vehicles us your head..not your feet to think

  6. Yaba,r we goin to b taxed for evrythin in this country? Why do we road tax then? Awe this is nat fair,this man also has to go,and this will jus brin a lot of congestion on the roads,awe kwena its really expensive to live in zambia

  7. This is what happens when you put people with no concept of critical analysis. They use their eyes instead of their brains. They are just like our witch doctors. When a road is closed in Zambia they do not have reflective safety signs to indicate the closure or detour. You find a big tree laid across the road and no indication of an alternate route or detour. These methods are actually approved by the road safety people – otherwise you would arrest those responsible.
    I suggest traffic police to spend time checking cars in parking lots and attach steel boots which prevent the car from being driven away. City of Philadelphia in the USA uses them to great success in getting people to pay for registration or unpaid parking, registration or traffic tickets. Someone has done it before.

  8. This is what you voted for. Congestion tax coming for all who spend time in the city of Lusaka. What will happen to road tax?
    So this is what pf can do to us?
    Why do we pay more to bring in a vehicle from outside Zambia?
    Transport costs must be considered before paying toll fees. Transport fares need an upward adjustment to enable motorists pay toll fees.
    But this is madness.

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