Zimbabwe abolishes road access fee

Zimbabwe has officially scrapped the Road Access Fee following the promulgation of Statutory Instrument (SI) 113 of 2026, a move aimed at reducing the cost of road transport, eliminating duplicate charges and improving the ease of doing business.

The new regulations, gazetted by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development under the Toll Roads Act [Chapter 13:13], amend the Road Tolls (Regional Trunk Road Network) Regulations contained in Statutory Instrument 39 of 2009.

The Road Access Fee was introduced in 2009 as a mechanism for funding the maintenance of the national road network. However, following the expansion of the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) toll gate system, motorists and transport operators have long argued that the levy duplicated charges already being collected through toll fees.

Under Statutory Instrument 113 of 2026, the Government repealed several provisions of the principal regulations, including the legal framework governing the Road Access Fee.

The regulations also amend Section 3 of the principal regulations to provide that all routes along the City-to-City Trunk Road Network listed in the Second Schedule are designated toll roads and that tolls for using those roads must be paid at the appropriate tolling points.

In addition, the statutory instrument repeals Section 4, deletes references to the Third Schedule in Section 5, and repeals both the First and Third Schedules of the principal regulations, effectively removing the Road Access Fee regime from Zimbabwe's road user charging framework.

The latest reform means motorists will now only be required to pay toll fees at designated toll gates when travelling on the regional trunk road network, eliminating what had become a double charge for many road users.

The Government said the measure is intended to lower transport costs for private motorists and commercial transport operators, simplify compliance with road user charges and support efforts to improve Zimbabwe's business environment by reducing unnecessary regulatory and financial burdens.

The abolition of the Road Access Fee is expected to be welcomed by motorists, freight companies and public transport operators, who have for years called for the removal of overlapping road charges that increased the cost of moving goods and people across the country.