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THE Government aims at raising US$200 million in the second phase of the tolling system, Road Development Agency (RDA) chief executive officer Bernard Chiwala has said.
The road tolling system was introduced to raise funds for construction and maintenance of roads in the country.
The first phase of the toll gates was restricted to heavy duty trucks but the second phase would include smaller cars.
Mr Chiwala said the RDA would raise over US$200 million in the second phase from road tolling which would contribute to more road construction in the country.
He said this in a presentation at the two-day Zambia Investment Conference organised by Pangaea Securities and the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) at Radisson Blu Hotel in Lusaka.
“The initiative charging motorists through the road tolling will contribute to road infrastructure revolution in the country, because the same money will be ploughed back to construct and maintain the same roads,” Mr Chiwala said.
The RDA is set to introduce more sites across the country next year and has since appointed contractors to start the construction toll bridges and centres.
Some of the sites earmarked to be installed are Katuba and Shimabala, a few kilometres away from Lusaka, Kamfinsa and Levy Mwanawasa Stadium on the Copperbelt.
Last year the Government raised over K13 million from the road tolling under the pilot phase of the programme through weighbridges.
The money being realised is remitted to the Government through the National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) and later redeployed for the construction and maintenance of roads.
This is one of the most sustainable ways of raising funds for road infrastructure development instead of solely depending on budgetary allocations as Government allocation preference change.
RDA is also exploring ways on how to partner with the private companies in construction and running of toll gates under the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) arrangement.
