Zambia raises $120million a year from tolls!
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT, WORKS AND SUPPLY FOR THE
FIRST SESSION OF THE THIRTEENTH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY APPOINTED ON
WEDNESDAY, 20TH SEPTEMBER, 2022
■ A visit to Shimabala Toll Plaza -Raises K9m per month
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 by adequate 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. Collections were done on cash basis or e-tolls only as they
were no other alternative payment methods.
The station was connected to the ZESCO grid and also had back-up from solar energy
and diesel powered generator. In terms of traffic, the station experienced traffic
congestion especially during traffic peak hours due to narrow receiving lanes.
This was compounded by the few payment booths, which required urgent expansion.
■ 10.2 Visit to Chongwe Toll Station-Raises K3.6m per month
The Chongwe toll station was commissioned in 2017 and was categorized in class A. it
had a staff compliment of twenty-seven and nine Zambia Police personnel. It processed
an average of about 4,500 vehicles per day with monthly collections of approximately
ZMK 3.6 Million.
The mode of collection was through cash or e-toll system although the e-toll was fairly new and was still being rolled out.
The station had similar energy sources as those of Shimabala toll station.
■ 10.3 Visit to Katuba Toll Plaza-Raises K10.5m per month
The Katuba toll station was commissioned in 2017 and was categorized as a class A toll
station. The toll station was situated on one of the busiest highways (between Lusaka
and Kabwe) and it processed an average of about 6,300 vehicles per day with monthly
collections of approximately ZMK 10.5 Million.
Despite the amount of revenues collected as toll fees, the road infrastructure leading to the toll station had continued to deteriorate as it had never been maintained since installation and commissioning.
The station was well manned and secured as it had sufficient staffing levels.
■ 10.4 Visit to Manyumbi Toll Plaza- Raises K9.6m per month
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.
The station had a unique feature in that it operated on solar energy generating a total of 45 kilowatt. The main power supply from ZESCO was used as secondary source, while
power from a generator was the last option.
The Committee learnt that the toll station
had the capacity to supply 15 kilowatt into the main grid or use it to power surrounding
communities.
The Committee also learnt that there were differences in terms of the ICT infrastructure
used to support payment and receipt of toll fees at the different toll stations across thecountry because they were installed by different system operators that had been
contracted to develop the systems as part of the construction contracts for different toll
stations.
To this end, NRFA had identified that the system installed by NECOR, a Zambian owned company had proved to be the best and most efficient to deal with the processing of payments and receipts, including keeping tabs on frequent user payments/discounts.
The other systems were not as reliable as NECOR as they had no capacity to track frequent users of toll facilities and also required constant maintenance.
■ 10.5 Visit to Kafulafuta Toll Plaza-Raises K9.9million a month
Like Manyumbi toll station, 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.
The Committee noted that the state of the road between Kapirimposhi and Ndola was in a deplorable state and had reached impassable proportions around the toll station. This had resulted in slowing down of traffic and impacted the turn-around time of processing payments for trucks and buses, which were the majority type of vehicles passing through the plaza.
■ 10.6 Visit to Michael Chilufya Sata (MCS) Toll Plaza-Raises K12million
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.
The Committee questioned why the roads had remained in a poor state despite the NRFA collecting colossal amounts in toll fees per month.
The Committee learnt that the country was heavily indebted in the road construction sector, to the tune of about ZMK 10 Billion. Contractors had worked and presented performance certificates, but funds were thinly spread across to reduce the debt burden.
The Government could not embark on new road construction or maintenance works, unless the outstanding debt was dismantled.
■ 10.7 Visit to Wilson Mofya Chakulya (WMC) Toll Station- Raises K7million
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. Like other toll stations, it experienced the challenge of lack of alternative paying systems like mobile money and point-of-sale machines, which
greatly inconvenienced the travelling public.
The station was installed with a system
that was difficult to operate as it misclassified certain categories of vehicles and couldnot recognise categories of vehicles that were due for incentives such as frequent user
discounts.
■ 10.8 Visit to Sabina Toll Station, Raises K6.6million per month
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.
The committee also learnt that Chibuluma road in Kitwe which fed traffic from the
mines to Sabina toll station was in a deplorable state and this indirectly heightened theft of cargo from the trucks as they had to move very slowly to navigate the huge
craters and pot holes on the road.
■ 10.9 Visit to 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. The Committee noted
that the station was not secured with a parameter fence and was surrounded by bushes, thereby posing a security risk.
The Mpongwe road had generally not been maintained and thus pot holes had developed in most portions of the road including near the toll station.
As part of its local tour programme, the committee held five stakeholder meetings and visited two ports of entry, namely; Mufulira/Mokambo and Chililabombwe/Kasumbalesa Border controls.