Roads Fund targets 15 tollgates by 2027
The Roads Fund Administration (RFA) says it plans to erect 15 more tollgates by 2027 to increase the revenue base for road maintenance financing.
Speaking in an interview yesterday, RFA spokesperson Masauko Mngwaluko said they plan to construct three toll gates each financial year for five years.
He said for this financial year, RFA will construct tollgates at Nalupa on the Lilongwe-Salima Road, another one in Kasungu along the M1, seven kilometres from Nkhamenya and on the Lilongwe -Mchinji Road close to Namitete.
Said Mngwaluko: “More tollgates will be constructed along the Liwonde–Mangochi Road, Blantyre–Mwanza Road and the Limbe–Mloza Road in Mulanje. The sites were arrived at after a survey by the Roads Authority which involved traffic flow count.
“The Roads Authority has already identified contractors for the projects while the Ministry of Lands and district commissioners in the respective districts are already on the ground processing compensations for those that will be affected.”
The plans to erect more tollgates come against a background of RFA collecting K3.2 billion from Chingeni and Kalinyeke tollgates by September 30 2022. The funds are yet to be utilised.
Chingeni Toll Plaza in Ntcheu opened in November 2021 while Kalinyeke Tollgate in Dedza was opened in January this year.
On how the funds collected are being utilised, Mngwaluko said the Roads Authority (RA) is in a better position to respond as the RFA’s mandate is to finance the projects, but implementation is done by the authority.
RA spokesperson Portia Kajanga asked for more time to comment on the matter.
However, Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency executive director Willy Kambwandira called on the RFA to demonstrate how they are using generated revenue before proceeding with construction of additional tollgates adding that the country’s roads remain in bad shape despite RFA collecting millions in revenue.
He said: “We appreciate decisions by the RFA to construct additional tollgates, however it is very important for the RFA to go extra mile by sharing with Malawians in terms of how the fund is utilising the funds. Because if anything what we have heard, so far, is how the funds were abused.”
But Mngwaluko backed the idea of constructing more tollgates, saying the funds collected are used for maintenance of the tolled road, thereby giving assurance that the county’s roads will always be in good condition.
“Road maintenance is very expensive and we need more funds if we are to have good roads in the country. The fuel levy we get is not enough as it is used in many ways such as financing the Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services as well as city road maintenance,” he said.
On fears of abuse of funds at RFA, Mngwaluko assured that they have robust systems, including closed-circuit television cameras that are able to flag out anything suspicious.
Earlier this year, some officers at the two operational tollgates were embroiled in a case of embezzlement of funds collected at the two sites.
