ZINARA collects $180 million from tollgates in six years

The Zimbabwe National Road Authority (ZINARA) today said it had generated $180 million through its tolling system introduced six years ago.

Zimbabwe rolled out toll gates in 2010 to create a fund for repairing its largely ageing road network.

Most roads in the country were constructed over 40 years ago during the colonial era, with an average lifespan of 20 years. Over 36 years after independence, the infrastructure has largely fallen into a state of disrepair.

Official reports say the country requires at least $30 billion to rebuild its road structure.

Appearing before a Parliamentary committee on transport today, ZINARA chairman, Albert Mugabe said the roads administrator planned to construct more toll gates across the country.

“In 2010 we collected $16.2 million. In 2011 we had  $18.2 million;  $17.8 million in 2012; $19.1 million  in 2013 and $26.1 million in 2014. In 2015 it was $33.6 million and bringing  the total to 137.7 million,” Mugabe told lawmakers.

“We had other nine toll gates connecting Plumtree to Mutare roads, which also brought in  $42.2 million for  the past five years and the total amount of money  cumulatively is $180.1 million. The money is being used  in the maintenance of roads, as we  have  realised that  the  volume of vehicles  using our roads is  increasing every year, hence we must keep on maintaining our road in good shape,” said Mugabe.

He added: “We have  also  started a programme  of capturing  all the vehicles that use our roads on a data base to ensure  that  they  are paying the  toll  fees  and we are  working together with  the Central Vehicle Registration  to  capture all  the  vehicles in the computers. We have also engaged other companies, namely Univem which specialises in car tracking systems, to help us in the project and trafficking the vehicles that could have been stolen and driven outside our borders,” said Mugabe. – The Source

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