Roads Fund Administration (RFA) says it has allocated K17.5 billion to Roads Authority (RA) for the rehabilitation of the tolled sections of the M1 between Blantyre and Lilongwe.
Briefing the Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurance and Public Sector Reforms on toll gates revenue as a reform area yesterday, RFA chief executive officer Stewart Malata said as of May 31 2023, about K5.7 billion has been collected from Kalinyeke and Chingeni toll gates.
He said RFA has allocated K17.5 billion to enable RA begin the works without delays, adding the additional funds have been accessed from RFA’s other sources, including international transit fees, road maintenance levy in the petroleum price build up and vehicles access fees.
Said Malata: “What has been collected is K5.7 billion while what has been allocated is K17.5 billion. This was a deliberate move so that we don’t wait until we collect substantial resources before the road starts being rehabilitated. The idea was to get resources elsewhere, start rehabilitating and repay those resources from the toll fees.”
He said the M1 rehabilitation was delayed due to procurement processes, which are now almost complete.
RA is expected to start with the section between Zalewa turn-off in Neno and Chingeni in Ntcheu and later move to other sections.
Malata further said the budget for road maintenance this year is K25 billion, adding the government has allocated an additional K6 billion to RFA for the maintenance of some roads affected by disasters.
To ensure that more money is generated through toll gates and that more roads are maintained, RFA has planned to construct more toll gates.
In the 2023/24 financial year, RFA plans to construct two more tollgates, one on the Lilongwe-Salima Road and another on the Lilongwe-Mchinji Road.
Malata said the roads were selected for having a traffic volume of 3 000 or more vehicles per day.
“Progress on land acquisition is at an advanced stage and detailed designs for the toll gates are also underway,” he said, adding the RFA is hopeful that contractors will be engaged soon and construction will start this year.
In the 2024/25 financial year, the RFA plans to construct two more tollgates, one at Gwayi in Kasungu and another in Dowa near Mponela.
RFA also plans to construct smaller toll gates on roads with a traffic volume of 2 000 vehicles per day. These include the Liwonde-Mangochi, Mwanza-Zalewa, Limbe-Thyolo-Muloza, Blantyre- Zomba and Mzuzu-Chiweta roads.
In his remarks, committee chairperson Noel Lipipa said there is a need to utilise the funds from the toll gates to ensure the country’s roads are in good condition.
“A number of roads are in bad shape and they pose a threat to lives. We need to rehabilitate these roads,” he said.
Lipipa also hailed plans of coming up with more toll gates, saying the country needs more money to improve the road network.
RFA is mandated to raise resources for construction and maintenance of roads in the country. Previously it banked on road maintenance levy in the price of fuel and international partners. However, it diversified to tollgates at Kalinyeke in Dedza and Chingeni in Ntcheu as additional sources of revenue.
