The Sunday Mail
Wallace Ruzvidzo
THE Zimbabwe National Road Administration (zinara) has collected $5 billion in toll fees during the first 10 months of the year.
The money has since been channelled to support the ongoing Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP).
In an interview, zinara chief executive officer Mr Nkosinathi Ncube said the road authority had surpassed its monthly toll revenue target by 5 percent.
“Tollgates are one of the envelopes that zinara has, so from the tollgates, on a monthly basis we are collecting around $500 million for all the tollgates across the country,” he said.
“We are actually 5 percent above the target for the tollgates as our target was just above $400 million.
“Tollgates contribute about 25 to 30 percent of the fund, so they are not the overall contributor of the fund, they are just part of the major income streams for zinara.”
The statutory body administers over 30 tollgates on most of the country’s highways.
zinara levies $164 for light motor vehicles, $246 for minibuses and $328 for high-volume buses at its tollgates.
Heavy vehicles pay $410, while haulage trucks are levied $820.
More than $140 million was disbursed during the first six months of the year for road maintenance countrywide.
Beneficiaries of the funds include the Department of Roads in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, District Development Fund, and urban and rural district councils.
Mr Ncube said: “We are a Government agency, so zinara together with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development are the funders of the road rehabilitation programme.
“Right now if you go to any road authority across the country, there is no road authority that has failed to receive its disbursement.
“So we are fulfilling our mandate, we are focusing on our mandate and the zinara we have today is one that is focusing on its mandate to collect fees, manage the fund and disburse to relevant authorities.”
zinara also collects transit, vehicle licensing, bridge toll, abnormal load and axle overload fees in addition to fuel levies.
Last month, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development gazetted new regulations imposing hefty fines for evading paying toll fees by using by-passes.
Individuals who allow their private roads or premises to be used as by-passes are now liable to a $20 000 fine.
This fine, which is set at level 5, goes into zinaras road fund.
The same fine applies to those who block the road at tolling points.
Vending and loitering around tollgates now attract a $2 000 fine.
