Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Government will NOT spend a single penny from tax payers’ money on the new traffic system-RTSA

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Kapsch TrafficCom
Kapsch TrafficCom

Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has said that Government will NOT spend a single penny from tax payers’ money or the treasury on the new project to manage the Traffic System in Zambia as the concessionaire takes all the related risks and expenditures.

Yesterday it was made public that Zambia had awarded Austria’s Kapsch TrafficCom AG a joint venture contract to design, install and operate a road traffic surveillance system to curb accidents under the PPP model as prescribed in the PPP Act of 2009.

Accrding to the statement , this is the first PPP project to ever be finalised in a very short period of time with the Kasumbalesa Boarder Post PPP project being one of the first ever two PPP projects to be implemented in Zambia since the PPP Act was assented on the 26th of August 2009.

The project follows the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) model which means the whole project will eventually be owned by the Zambian Government through its Agency the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA).

In a BOT Project the project company or operator generally obtains its revenues through a fee charged to the utility/ government rather than tariffs charged to consumers.

In common law countries a number of projects are called concessions, such as toll road projects, which are new build and have a number of similarities to BOTs.

Following the tripled number of vehicles on Zambia’s – 700,000 in the 10 years to 2016, Government has been concerned with the increasing road fatalities.
In 2016 alone, 2,206 people died in traffic related accidents.

The Zambian Government, through RTSA has therefore partnered with Kapsch TrafficCom whom they have awarded a nation-wide concession contract to improve road safety and traffic management in Zambia under a 50:50 joint venture with Lamise Trading Ltd in an effort to significantly increase road safety and traffic management.

A Concession gives a concessionaire the long term right to use all utility assets conferred on the concessionaire, including responsibility for operations and some investment.
Asset ownership remains with the authority and the authority is typically responsible for replacement of larger assets.

Assets revert to the authority at the end of the concession period, including assets purchased by the concessionaire.

The scope of work for Kapsch will include design, installation and operation of systems and solutions for traffic surveillance, vehicle speed enforcement, vehicle inspection and vehicle registration which will be realized step by step during a ramp-up phase as a part of a 17-year contract.

The project is expected to create over 500 jobs and provide a boost to the economy through improved road transport, and reduced number of traffic accidents.

The projected revenues for the first three years of operation is in the range of EUR 90 million to EUR110 million.

In a PPP arrangement, the private sector in return receives financial remuneration in form of concession fees, user fees, or any other form of repayment that maybe agreed upon with the Government. In this process, the Government retains a significant role in the partnership as the main purchaser of services or the main enabler of the project.

30 COMMENTS

  1. As long as you dont increasing fees for licences and toll fees. If for 17 years you will be paying this company money collected from road licences and others, where are you going to get money for maintaining the many roads you have constructed? just asking.

    • Dont think that this is for free, Zambians with cars pay for this and at a very high cost.

      Government is not going to spend money on this project but citizens will be the one being charged heavy fees.

    • The dullness of Zambians is shocking. You will definitely spend and on top of that you will loose out on revenue just like the parking in Lusaka that was given to Zimbabweans.

    • there goes the African again.A people who do not study and know their history are bound to make the same mistakes.this sounds exactly like the years of the slave trade.they give you guns and salt and you give them your people as exchange.people who would be exploited for 400 years to build their empires in europe,caribbean and the west.Now in exchange for some traffic lights,camera lights and few computers here and their,you give the millions of car owners in zambia to a foreign company that will exploit them for years ripping them off with large profits from licence registration,renewals,insuarance schemes,vehicle inspections and road worthiness which will be high considering most of us buy used cars which might be deemed unsafe for these new road safety statutes.the african is fooled…

    • there goes the African again.A people who do not study and know their history are bound to make the same mistakes.this sounds exactly like the years of the slave trade.they give you guns and salt and you give them your people as exchange.people who would be exploited for 400 years to build their empires in europe,caribbean and the west.Now in exchange for some traffic lights,camera lights and few computers here and their,you give the millions of car owners in zambia to a foreign company that will exploit them for years ripping them off with large profits from licence registration,renewals,insuarance schemes,vehicle inspections and road worthiness which will be high considering most of us buy used cars which might be deemed unsafe for these new road safety statutes.

    • – These PF mangwams have sold RATSA to lebanese & Austrians, meaning all our licenses & tolls & fines will be sent out of the country.

      – They sold ZNBC to tuma choncho-li meaning all our TV licenses & tower rentals from moulti-choice will be sent to China

      – They sold ZCCM-IH to a shelf company in Israel.
      By 2021 Zambians are being stripped bare by this VISIONLESS regime.
      – ZESCO is next

    • What nonsense! EVERY Zambian will have to pay for this! They are not doing this for FREE!

      PF has borrowed massive amounts of Kaloba to build roads that now will be handed to this company who will charge us AGAIN through massive toll fees. In effect, Zambians will now be paying TWICE for the same services! First we have to pay back the LOANS and then PAY extra toll fees as well!

      The price of the FIRE TRUCKS is now 2 MILLION DOLLARS!

      And these fulls are telling us we will not pay for it! Do they think Zambians are really that stupld ???

  2. Why do i find this hard to believe? We need all stakeholders to have oversight and make checks and balances of this project lest we be taken for granted, like we always are!!

  3. Uhm??? Is this another satellite for free? Or the Zambia Railways concession? kaya!!!!or is the zra border machines installed by a private citizen who bounce back at the helm uhm???? 2021zambiaforward

  4. This is stupidity at its highest. It has taken government a number of years to plan and build the toll gates and when the money starts pouring in you engage a consultant to manage them among other things. The government has just realized the magnitude of money coming from these toll gates and a better way of looting it is through engaging a consultant. For 17 years honestly when 90% of the work has already been done?

  5. Its seems these people are labouring to explain the matrix behind because of corruption. Please show us the projected figures of the 100 million euro you are saying you raise so that we know where the monies will be coming from. We the citizen are not going to accept unexplained increases in road charges going forward.

  6. The tragic thing I have observed is that most Zambians always look for the negatives even in things that appear promising. This is what I am seeing in some of the bloggers here. Instead of looking at this project as something the country can benefit from, they are trashing it even before it takes off. Please heed Einstein’s wise counsel: “Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution”.

    • Not when you are being told that Government wont spend a penny. This is misleading and you Mr Facts should know this well. Government will be spending in form of lost opportunities and revenue. I have no issues with the PPP approach but I believe its misleading to just say government will not spend anything. really ??

    • @ Facts: You want us to believe that the project will be carried out for free ( no cost to tax payers)? That would be too gullible of us, boss.

  7. NOT to REPEAT what others have already said!! From all contributions, it is ALREADY CLEAR THAT THIS IS SCHEME IS TOTALLY UNWELCOME IN OUR COUNTRY. So please, Government and your PF, “BUGGER OFF!!” But the main worry is WHERE ARE OPPOSITION POLITICAL PARTIES AND CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS WHEN ALL THIS ROT IS GOING ON??

  8. We are a bunch of clowns and this statement leaves much to be desired. The Kasumbalesa PPP was cancelled by Ba Sata because of the corruption that surrounded it n MMD’s involvement through RB brought it back after Sata died. We don’t these pipo to come and steal from us again. Fire tenders, fertiliser, illegal loand and now this!!This country will be concessioned while we sit back and watch

  9. This is just a road to loot by lungu….why did GRZ not partner RTSA with the company ? We have enough money from toll gates to cover 50% 0f the costs nut they bring in the Lebanese who have bribed lungu and his hand.

    Just look at the company lamise has formed to look after this contract you will find lungu and his friends are share holders….

  10. WE know yes Government will NOT spend a single penny from tax payers’ money or the treasury on the new project to manage the Traffic System in Zambia
    This is because our treasury has Ngwees not pennies

  11. Song iwaki Zyambo and his team must account for my vehicles stolen by Gilbert Phiri and Nakebi Zulu and his Advocates. Their system is corrupt. I need him to account and bring back ALL 5381. And whoever transferred it and the recipients must be brought to book. How do they coordinate corrupt thefts of motor vehicles with their agents at ZRA and the Police.

    The Zambia Police Service needs a complete overhaul. Unprofessionalism is rife in there, and it has been seen vividly from lower ranks to the current IG and his Lusaka Province Commissioner. Abuse of authority, mismanagement and banditry ought to be accounted for. Even though there is a good number of up professionals who want to excel in policing. Having top cops who are unprofessional damages the morale of those who are…

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