By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Concessionaire to take over collection of toll fees
Public-Private-Partnership Concession Agreement for upgrading of 327km of Lusaka-Ndola Dual Carriage-Way and Rehabilitation of 45km of Masangano-Fisenge-Luanshya Road was signed on 28th February 2023.
This is a commercial agreement.
At financial close the contractor/ Concessionaire will take over the collections of tolls and mobilise to begin the construction.
The other day, a Minister was quoted that the contractor will move on site immediately to begin urgent repairs as they will take-over the collection of tolls immediately.
The annual toll fees range from $20million-$30million a year on this road.
Past feasibility studies have shown that the volume of traffic guarantees that $100million-a-year revenue can be generated especially if commercial tolls are applied.
Currently, NRFA is charging K20 the same user-fee that was imposed in 2017 when Zambia commissioned the National Tolling Programme.
PROJECT
The total project cost is USD 649, 976, 167, broken down as follows:
a) USD 577, 383, 758.00 (US$ 577.38 million) is the total cost of construction;
b) USD 1, 000, 000 for working capital;
c) USD 1, 849, 500 for finance costs; and
d) USD 69, 742, 909 (USD 69.74 million) for interest during the construction period.
Here is a window to how much revenue tolls are generating sampled by a parliamentary committee that visited some toll gates.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT, WORKS AND SUPPLY FOR THE
FIRST SESSION OF THE THIRTEENTH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY APPOINTED ON
WEDNESDAY, 20TH SEPTEMBER, 2022
SHIMABALA TOLL STATION
The Shimabala toll station was commissioned in 2017 as a class A toll station and was
one of the busiest in the country. It was managed by a station manager supported byadequate staffing levels and security personnel from the Zambia Police Service.
The toll station processed about 9000 vehicles per day and collected revenues of approximately ZMK 9 Million per month.
MPONGWE TOLL STATION
The Mpongwe toll station was categorized in class ‘C’ and was situated on the
Luanshya-Mpongwe road in Copperbelt rural. Being in class C meant that traffic
volumes were extremely low and revenues collected per month did not exceed ZMK
330,000. Further, the station used a small building as office space and did not have
booths from where tolls could be paid. This meant that clients had to step out of the
vehicles to pay toll fees irrespective of the whether condition.
SABINA TOLL STATION
Opened in 2021 and categorized in class ‘B’, the Sabina toll station was situated on the
Kitwe-Sabina Road. The toll station was yet to be fully completed as it did not have a
parameter wall and paved car park. The station also required slight expansion of the
receiving lanes as it experienced congestion during peak periods. The Committee learnt
that due to the narrow receiving lanes there had been an accident involving a truck,
which left a booth completely damaged and a toll collector injured.
Most of the traffic on the Sabina road consisted of heavy goods vehicles, which were deviated from Kitwe’s Independence road leading to the WMC toll station.
The traffic volume therefore, at the Sabina toll gate was about 2300 per day with a revenue return of ZMK 6.6 Million per month.
WISLON MOFYA CHAKULYA TOLL STATION
Opened in 2019 WMC toll station was classified in category A and was able to handle a daily traffic volume of about 10,000 per day, with approximate monthly collections of about ZMK 7 Million.
MICHAEL CHILUFYA SATA TOLL PLAZA
Michael Chilufya Sata (MCS) Toll Plaza
The MCS plaza was opened in 2018 and is located on the Ndola-Kitwe dual carriage
way.
The station is the largest and is classified in category ‘A’. About 9,900 motor vehicles passed through the toll gate on a daily basis with 30 to 34 per cent of them being heavy goods vehicles destined for the mines and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The station generated revenues of about ZMK 12 Million per month.Visit to Kafulafuta Toll Plaza
KAFULAFUTA TOLL
Kafulafuta toll station was opened in 2016 on the Kapiri-Ndola road. The toll station, which was in category ‘A’ generated about ZMK9.9 Million per month in toll fees.
MANYUMBI TOLL PLAZA
The Committee learnt that Manyumbi toll plaza was one of the first to be opened in
2016 and handled about 4500 vehicles per day with monthly collections of about ZMK
9.6 Million. The road to the toll station was in a deplorable state as it had never
received any maintenance since the plaza was erected.