Five more tollgates for highways

16 Sep, 2018 - 00:09 0 Views
Five more tollgates for highways

tollgates

Debra Matabvu
GOVERNMENT will next month establish five new tollgates on major highways as part of efforts to generate more revenue for roads infrastructure development.

The five are part of 10 new tollgates approved by Government in 2015. These will be located at Magamba along the Chivhu-Nyazura Road, Collen Bawn in Triangle, Mapfurudzi (Mt Darwin), Lothian (Roy Shops in Masvingo) and Triangle.

Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure Development Engineer George Mlilo said Government was finalising the attendant administrative, operational and infrastructure issues.

“We are now working on connecting the tollgates to the main system and this we will start doing (this) week,” he said.

“We are putting finishing touches such as lighting, rumble strips; and we expect the five tollgates to start operating mid-October . . . The remaining five tollgates will be done according to Government directives as some of the toll gates are on highways such as Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu, therefore we will work on them as we go.”

Our Harare Bureau understands that the five outstanding tollgates will be erected at Honeyspruit along the Harare-Masvingo Road; outside Karoi along the Harare-Chirundu Highway; at Dewure along the Mutare-Masvingo Road; in Mwenezi on the Masvingo-Beitbridge Road; and in Kazungula along the Victoria Falls-Kazungula Road.

Zimbabwe already has 26 tollgates along major highways, situated between 15 to 20km from major cities and towns. Motorists of light vehicles pay $2, while minibuses and buses pay $3 and $4 respectively, with drivers of haulage trucks required to pay $10 to pass through tollgates.
Zimbabwe Institute of Rural and Urban Planners president Mr Percy Toriro said Government should space tollgates in manner that did not frustrate motorists.
“Although it is a noble idea because of the revenue that they bring in, there is need for the tollgates to be spaced in a way that will not burden and frustrate motorists at the end of the day,” he said.
Government introduced tollgates in 2009 and has to date collected about $360 million from them.

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