Toll gates: A burden On malawians?

At a time Malawians are saddled with a number of taxes, the Public Private Partnership Commission (PPPC) has unveiled plans to introduce toll gates on some major roads as a revenue generation measure.

PPPC, a government agency that facilitates public private partnerships (PPPs), says a feasibility study, whose results will be ready in January 2017, has taken off and is being undertaken by an Australian consulting firm, SMEC Holdings Limited.

A toll gate is a steel structure put in highways and other major roads in a country for which a fee or a toll, is paid to pass. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the cost of road construction and maintenance, which amounts to a form of taxation.

PPPC chief executive officer Jimmy Lipunga said in an interview last week the consulting firm will assess key issues such as volume of traffic to determine level of toll fees as well as technical, financial and environmental viability of the project.

He said: “Following an instruction that we got from the Roads Fund Administration [RFA] and Ministry of Transport and Public Works, we have engaged a consultant to evaluate the feasibility analysis and advise the way

forward.

“But also in keeping with the practice in the region, as most of our neighbouring countries have implemented this arrangement, we also want to take the same route to boost revenue collections for our road networks,” he said.

RFA procurement and public relations officer Masauko Mngwaluko said in an e-mailed response to a questionnaire on Friday the project is crucial as it will boost revenue collection.

“This project will raise much-needed additional funding for the maintenance of the road network. This will lead to further improvement in the condition of the road network,” he said.

RFA is the legal authority mandated to raise finances for public road maintenance, rehabilitation and repair.

Mngwaluko said the study will come up with suggested toll fees based on a number of considerations, but RFA will ensure that the fees are affordable.

Currently, RFA annual collection, through road fund levy in the fuel pump price, stand at around K22 billion and is expected to rise by K7 billion once tolling starts, according to Mngwaluko.

The introduction of toll fees will come on top of 16.5 percent value added tax (VAT) on water, ordinary bread, laundry soap, milk (except formula milk) which became effective on August 16 2016.

Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) president Karl Chokotho warned in an interview last week the amount that consumers will have to pay for these products will increase. n