via Bulawayo24 NEWS | It will take over 100 years for Zinara to repair the country’s roads – Mpofu 04 July 2014
It will take 100 years to repair the country’s roads if government relies on funding from the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) as it is collecting a mere $40 million annually, Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Obert Mpofu said on Thursday.
Addressing journalists after a meeting with driving school operators in Bulawayo, Mpofu said he wanted to clear the air on the perception that Zinara was making a lot of money.
Zinara, as the country’s road fund, is made up of various road-user charges which consist of Toll Fees, Vehicle Licence Fees, Loans and Grants, Abnormal Load Fees, Road Transit Fees and Fuel Levy.
“There is a perception that Zinara is collecting a lot of money, but this is not true because it is collecting at least $40 million annually which can only fix less than a 30 kilometre stretch of road,” Mpofu said.
“If we rely on the money gathered by Zinara, it will take more than 100 years to repair the country’s roads.”
Mpofu said the government’s introduction of urban toll gates was a step in the right direction.
“Road-users will contribute meaningfully to construction of upgraded infrastructure and if we look at the tolling fees charged in South Africa, they are way above what we are charging,” Mpofu said.
“They introduced electronic tolling and they have levies to develop their infrastructure and we will also go that route because it will benefit us if people stop politicising such issues.”
Mpofu said his ministry would do away with make-shift tollgates through the establishment of toll plazas on all the major roads.
Meanwhile the, minister also urged public transport operators to introduce metro buses as kombis were being phased out.
Mpofu said this during a driving schools operators’ meeting organized by the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe.
“We want to phase out Kombis because they are causing too many road fatalities and we believe if business people come forward to ensure the establishment of metro buses, it will solve the road accidents we have in the country,” he said.
“We also need to realise that irresponsible driving has led to road crashes, 95 % of which are a result of driver errors.”
Zinara, as the country’s road fund, is made up of various road-user charges which consist of Toll Fees, Vehicle Licence Fees, Loans and Grants, Abnormal Load Fees, Road Transit Fees and Fuel Levy.
“There is a perception that Zinara is collecting a lot of money, but this is not true because it is collecting at least $40 million annually which can only fix less than a 30 kilometre stretch of road,” Mpofu said.
“If we rely on the money gathered by Zinara, it will take more than 100 years to repair the country’s roads.”
Mpofu said the government’s introduction of urban toll gates was a step in the right direction.
“Road-users will contribute meaningfully to construction of upgraded infrastructure and if we look at the tolling fees charged in South Africa, they are way above what we are charging,” Mpofu said.
“They introduced electronic tolling and they have levies to develop their infrastructure and we will also go that route because it will benefit us if people stop politicising such issues.”
Mpofu said his ministry would do away with make-shift tollgates through the establishment of toll plazas on all the major roads.
Meanwhile the, minister also urged public transport operators to introduce metro buses as kombis were being phased out.
Mpofu said this during a driving schools operators’ meeting organized by the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe. – See more at: http://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-50037.html#sthash.kDNQplv8.dpuf
Zinara, as the country’s road fund, is made up of various road-user charges which consist of Toll Fees, Vehicle Licence Fees, Loans and Grants, Abnormal Load Fees, Road Transit Fees and Fuel Levy.
“There is a perception that Zinara is collecting a lot of money, but this is not true because it is collecting at least $40 million annually which can only fix less than a 30 kilometre stretch of road,” Mpofu said.
“If we rely on the money gathered by Zinara, it will take more than 100 years to repair the country’s roads.”
Mpofu said the government’s introduction of urban toll gates was a step in the right direction.
“Road-users will contribute meaningfully to construction of upgraded infrastructure and if we look at the tolling fees charged in South Africa, they are way above what we are charging,” Mpofu said.
“They introduced electronic tolling and they have levies to develop their infrastructure and we will also go that route because it will benefit us if people stop politicising such issues.”
Mpofu said his ministry would do away with make-shift tollgates through the establishment of toll plazas on all the major roads.
Meanwhile the, minister also urged public transport operators to introduce metro buses as kombis were being phased out.
Mpofu said this during a driving schools operators’ meeting organized by the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe. – See more at: http://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-50037.html#sthash.kDNQplv8.dpuf
COMMENTS
If it costs $2 per tollgate and there are 4 tollgates between Beitbridge and Harare, that equals $16 round trip. If ZINARA is collecting $40M annually; divided by $2, means that there are 20M collections per year. If you divide that times 365 days in a year, you get less then 7,000 round trips per day, TOTAL, FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY! Is that realistic? On any given day are there only 6,850 vehicles in the entire country paying road tolls equivalent to that round trip? It sounds like a certain minister is trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes… yet again!
One other thought… since any idiot knows that businesses cannot function without reliable infrastructure, such as uninterrupted electricity, abundant clean water, healthy employees, and dependable roads and railways to ship their products… then shouldn’t ZimAsset be focused on meeting those requirements first, so that businesses can later grow and prosper to create jobs?
How the hell does Mugabe expect a manufacturer to function without electricity? Or for a shipping company to turn a profit if their fleet is constantly banged up by bad roads and hefty tolls? What about a brewer or a beverage plant that needs a constant supply of good clean water?
Those needs are not a part of ZImAsset, because it depends on unlocking, or stealing, the assets of white held businesses so that blacks can start businesses that are doomed to fail because they lack the resources to succeed… just like the land reform program.
The roads were put in by the British colonisers, that’s why they won’t be repaired any time soon. They are foreign the retrogressive policies of Zanu pf who,s basic principle is to return everything to pre colonial times.
Does this mean it costs $1.3 million to resurface 1km of road in Zimbabwe?