News / National
Number of tollgates to be increased
16 Sep 2013 at 14:06hrs | Views
THE Government is planning to increase the number of tollgates along the country's highways in a bid to boost revenue collection to enhance improved road construction, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Dr Obert Mpofu, said yesterday.
In an interview, Dr Mpofu said the country's road network should be expanded quickly to keep pace with the ever increasing volume of traffic.
He said meaningful financing of the road construction projects was possible through the private-public partnership (PPPs) model, which is anchored on the user pay principle.
"Our road network cannot cope with the increased volume of traffic hence the need to expand the net work. Generally there is an increase in road usage. Our road infrastructure is infact overwhelmed by the number of vehicles," said Dr Mpofu.
"As a ministry we will have to increase the number of tollgates along our roads. The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) will have to increase the number of tollgates along our busy highways.
"This is meant to ensure that more money is realised, which we will use in developing other roads. Of course this has to be done efficiently through the computerised tollgate system that was introduced by my predecessor, Cde Nicholas Goche."
Many areas especially in rural and resettlement areas are not being serviced by public transport because of poor roads.
Most roads have infact outlived their life span by more than 30 years. The average lifespan of a road is about 20 years.
It is estimated that the country needs about $2 billion to rehabilitate major roads to meet international standards.
The total road network in the country covers about 87 654 kilometres, comprising 18 640km of State highways, 8 194 of urban roads and 61 000 km made up of rural roads.
Most of these roads are in a serious state of disrepair.
The deterioration of the roads accelerated from the year 2000 when Western countries imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.
In an interview, Dr Mpofu said the country's road network should be expanded quickly to keep pace with the ever increasing volume of traffic.
He said meaningful financing of the road construction projects was possible through the private-public partnership (PPPs) model, which is anchored on the user pay principle.
"Our road network cannot cope with the increased volume of traffic hence the need to expand the net work. Generally there is an increase in road usage. Our road infrastructure is infact overwhelmed by the number of vehicles," said Dr Mpofu.
"As a ministry we will have to increase the number of tollgates along our roads. The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) will have to increase the number of tollgates along our busy highways.
"This is meant to ensure that more money is realised, which we will use in developing other roads. Of course this has to be done efficiently through the computerised tollgate system that was introduced by my predecessor, Cde Nicholas Goche."
Many areas especially in rural and resettlement areas are not being serviced by public transport because of poor roads.
Most roads have infact outlived their life span by more than 30 years. The average lifespan of a road is about 20 years.
It is estimated that the country needs about $2 billion to rehabilitate major roads to meet international standards.
The total road network in the country covers about 87 654 kilometres, comprising 18 640km of State highways, 8 194 of urban roads and 61 000 km made up of rural roads.
Most of these roads are in a serious state of disrepair.
The deterioration of the roads accelerated from the year 2000 when Western countries imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Source - Byo24News
