Roads Fund plans another tollgate on M1

 Roads Fund Administration (RFA) says it plans to construct a tollgate on the M1 at Gwai located between Nkhamenya in Kasungu and Jenda in Mzimba.

Speaking in an interview on Friday, RFA public relations manager Masauko Mngwaluko said the tollgate will ensure that government raises money to maintain the road.

“Tollgates use the user pay principle and to collect money and use on another road would not be an ideal situation,” he said.

Kasungu district director of planning and development Anne Zimba said the M1 passes through Kasungu and the money realised will help to rehabilitate the road.

“We know that Roads Fund Administration will be able to collect enough resources for rehabilitating the M1 which passes through Kasungu and for us, we will also benefit by having a good road in the district,” she said.

In his remarks, Traditional Authority Kalikokha, in whose jurisdiction the toll plaza will be constructed, said he welcomed the project as it will facelift the area, create job opportunities for the people during construction and benefit the country economically.

“The M1 is in poor condition and because of this there are many accidents occurring, but with the toll plaza funds raised will be used to maintain the road, thereby reducing accidents,” he observed.

Kasungu North Constituency legislator Mike Bango suggested that the money collected from the tollgate should be used to construct other roads in the area.

“We will have a tollgate in Kasungu, but we have other important roads that need rehabilitation,” he said, citing Kakwale-Luwerezi-Khosolo-Kasitu Road.

Minibus driver James Mwandira said tollgates are a good idea, but government should ensure that the money is used for maintaining roads.

RFA said the three tollgate plazas at Gwai in Kasungu, Naluva in Salima and Chileka on Lilongwe-Mchinji Road will be constructed with K7 billion already allocated in the 2022/23 National Budget.

In October last year, the Malawi Government commissioned the country’s first toll gate plaza at Kalinyeke in Dedza and Chingeni in Ntcheu.

The two tollgates have raised about K1.9 billion as of May 312022.