Roads Fund Administration (RFA) has reported doubling of revenue from the two toll gates on the M1 to K1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2026 largely due to increased fees.
The development comes amid pressure on authorities to urgently fix the country’s dilapidated road network.
During a press conference in Lilongwe yesterday, RFA said collections surged by 96 percent from K920 million during the same period last year following a January 1 hike in fees and the restoration of fuel levy inflows through the automatic pricing mechanism (APM).
RFA director of finance Alex Makhwatha said the improved inflows have unlocked more resources for road maintenance, but conceded that motorists are still enduring poor road conditions on tolled routes.
“Much as we know that this [jump in revenue] is a result of the challenges to do with the reduction of the toll fees which was done without making any reference to the feasibility study recommendations, it is a situation that we need to address, especially now that the government has taken a positive step to unwind the situation on both toll fees and the fuel levies,” he said in apparent reference to past policy decisions that weakened the fund’s capacity.
RFA has earmarked K50 billion for the Roads Authority (RA) to rehabilitate damaged sections of the M1, including resurfacing and widening works. Another K17 billion project is at contract negotiation stage, with works expected to start within a month.
Authorities have also rolled out pothole patching as a stop-gap measure across critical stretches.
The toll-gates rolled out in November 2021 and have cumulatively collected K18.7 billion gross revenue.
Between April 2024 and and March 2025, the toll gates generated K4.2 billion while from April 2022 to March 2023 the revenue was K3.8 billion and from April 2025 to December 2025 it was K3.5 billion.
However, RFA said the cost of fixing the road network remains steep with K3.8 billion already allocated for the rehabilitation of a six-kilometre section between Kam’mwamba and Zalewa Turn-off in Neno. To fully restore the Blantyre-Lilongwe stretch, RFA estimates the cost at K17.5 billion.
RFA tolling operations manager Dalitso Kadzamira said that the fund is still owed K273 billion in fuel levy arrears accumulated over the past three years, which he says could have transformed road conditions nationwide.
