The National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) has recorded a 20 percent drop in revenue collections from its toll gates following the outbreak of corona virus.
NRFA Director Wallace Mumba says the agency has so far collected 7-hundred and 77 million Kwacha in toll fees from 35 tolling stations countrywide.
Mr. Mumba says this is down from the targeted 9-hundred and 52 million Kwacha in revenue collections by end of July.
He has attributed the drop-in road tolling fees to the drop-in economic activities and traffic flows.
Mr Mumba is hopeful that the situation can improve under the new normal.
He was speaking when Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu inspected operations at the Chilonga toll plaza in Mpika yesterday with Muchinga provincial Minister Malozo Sichone.
Mr. Mumba informed the ministers that Chilonga toll plaza has collected 5-million-kwacha toll fees as of December last year to date.
He noted that NRFA is pursuing an SI where it will realign the payment of toll fees by foreign truck drivers which once enforced will increase revenue collection.
Mr Mumba says there has been some form of unfair payment of toll fees by Zambian truck drivers into Congo DRC compared to what foreign truckers pay in Zambia.
And Dr. Ng’andu appreciated the investment that went into putting up the Chilonga class B toll plaza.
He is impressed that within a short space of time, the tolling station has collected 5 million kwacha, almost the amount of investment that went into putting up the facility.
Dr Ng’andu urged NRFA to continue working with smart Zambia in a bid to automate their revenue collection process.
Toll gates are an extortive exercise because no provision has been made for alternate, toll free roads. The drop in collection is also a significant indicator that road users will now re evaluate the necessity of movement outside of the jurisdiction of the same. As I keep saying you can not charge yourselves into prosperity…
Expected during pandemic. Once things get back to normal we will see a reversal of this. Lives matter more than money. This does not concern me a lot.
The acceptable level of thinking pa Zed is exasperating. How can you be hopeful to raise revenues when economic indicators are pointing in a downwards spiral? Being hopeful suggests you have no clue on contingency or innovation to plug the gap. We are equally interested in where these funds are ending up, because we now know that they are not intended to purpose of maintaining the roads. Inwards and outward trading routes will be critical to the revival of the Zambian economy. Zambia needs faster and safer routes to key trading points with hours rather than days turnaround. Imagine the revenue you could raise by speeding up the cost of doing business.
“Mumba says this is down from the targeted 9-hundred and 52 million Kwacha in revenue collections by end of July.”
You morons you are simply stealing from motorists by erecting toll gates in the middle of highways without providing an alternative. A toll charge is a charge payable to use a bridge or road…you can not simply erect on a road taxpayers have already paid for.
Look at the UK based impostor as if there where he is in UK they erect tollgates in the middle of M1 motorway and start fleecing motorists. A toll road is semi private road you nimcompops that pays for itself from revenue collection.
@Tarino, the UK government did acutally erect toll gates on the M6 and switched on the cameras on the M1 to fleece from the motorists but the difference is that they maintain the roads.
Tarino I don’t know much about roads there in UK. However I remember the m1 as my driver drove me on it when I visited some years ago on official duty. I don’t drive when there, I get driven. Security reasons.