Tollgates funds not enough—RFA
Roads Fund Administration (RFA) says the cumulative K9.1 billion raised from tollgates as at February 2024 is not enough to rehabilitate some sections of the M1.
In a written response to a questionnaire on Friday, RFA public relations manager Masauko Mngwaluko said the money in the bag cannot meet the cost of patching the potholes on the road.
He said: “However, besides pothole patching, some sections of the road need to be rehabilitated. This will require a lot of money.
“The Roads Authority [RA], who are responsible for all road works on M1, will, therefore, do this in phases due to inadequate resources. As and when more resources are available, the RA will deploy more contractors to rehabilitate the road.”
Mngwaluko said of the gross K9.1 billion collected from the tollgates, the fund is paying for operating expenses and the maintenance and rehabilitation works, emphasising the need for enhancing the fund’s resource base.
He said: “RFA has already diversified through the introduction of tolling. We are also working with the financial institutions to raise roads bonds for financing major road maintenance and rehabilitation.
“We will continue to build more toll gates where justifiable. However, we have noted in recent times that the effects of the devaluation, rising cost of raw materials for road maintenance and the erosion of the value in our toll fees will require a review of the toll rates if tolling is to be meaningful.”
Mngwaluko said since the M1 and M5 are “very key roads”, facilitating a lot of economic and social activities, failure to maintain them would negatively impact the economy.
The country’s road infrastructure faces a financial deficit of K2.3 trillion for various categories of roads, including confirmed donor contributions for 355.7 kilometres of road maintenance and rehabilitation activities, according to the World Bank.
Currently, there are 28 road projects worth about K439.8 billion and fears abound that taxpayers will pay more due to cost overruns as a result of delays in executing the projects.
Last week, the Malawi Engineering Institution (MEI) demanded action from duty-bearers on deteriorating road conditions in the country that have turned into deathtraps.
In a statement signed by MEI president and board chairperson Engineer Alfonso Chikuni, who is also Ministry of Energy Principal Secretary, the engineers asked RA to implement an emergency road maintenance programme to ensure safety of all road users and to undertake corrective action on the Golomoti-Monkey Bay section of the M10 that gets submerged in flood waters.
However, Minister of Transport and Public Works Jacob Hara said following the recent approval of project cost reviews by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority, Malawians will see progress on the roads.
For Malawi to accelerate economic development and achieve the Malawi 2063, the road industry needs to provide 200 kilometres of new or upgraded sealed roads annually, according to the 2024 Malawi Government Annual Economic Report.
