adminWe cannot continue comparing our infrastructure in African countries to the north of us. In southern Africa, Zimbabwe is a regional hub through which all traffic destined for the African hinterland passes through and the need for a sound road network should never be overemphasised.
The coming on board of tollgates was supposed to be the panacea that would lessen the burden of constructing and maintaining roads on the Government. Tollgates are a pay-as-you-drive model that are used in other countries and the money raised from these is re-channelled towards the building of roads and other infrastructure on the highways.
In Zimbabwe, when tollgates were introduced in 2009, there were mixed feelings with some motorists welcoming them as a solution to road rehabilitation and maintenance. Others were, however, sceptical that the money might not find its way towards the maintenance of roads. They paid grudgingly, but with the pace at which the refurbishment of the roads is moving, they might feel vindicated.
Today, very little has been done on our roads despite motorists coughing up money day-in and day-out. Our roads are still in a bad shape and continue to deteriorate.
What we call tollgates are nothing but sub-standard sheds along the highways.
As if this is not enough, Zimbabweans yesterday woke up to the news that new tolling points would be set up on the highway from Plumtree to Mutare, via Bulawayo and Harare, bringing to nine the number of tolling points on this highway alone.
According to a story we carried in this paper yesterday, the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) will install state-of-the-art toll plazas which will look like those found along the highways in neighbouring South Africa on the 820-kilometre Plumtree-Bulawayo-Harare-Mutare highway that will be rehabilitated and upgraded to international standards.
The plazas would be erected on the highway within the next three years, with the first one set to be operational by the end of September. The plazas would be constructed at a cost of $1 million each.
But why didn’t Zinara do this when it introduced the tollgates? What boggles the mind is that the “sheds” that we have on our highways in place of tollgates have only been in existence for less than two years. Money was spent constructing these substandard tollgates which Zinara is going to pull down in favour of the new plazas.
Surely, Zinara should have first done its research before throwing motorists money down the drain. The Minister of Transport, Communication and Infrastructural Development, Cde Nicholas Goche, is on record as expressing his displeasure on the existing tollgates.
The new tollgates would obviously come at a cost to the motorist. The current fees would be revised upwards once the new plazas are operational.
Zinara must therefore tell the public why it went ahead in constructing tollgates that it would pull down in less than two years and how much this cost the taxpayer/motorist. We hope Government will come to the bottom of this and that heads will roll.
We are not opposed to the construction of the new plazas and rehabilitation of the roads. But it appears this process has been fraught with too much bureaucracy which is slowing it down.
We also look forward to Zinara, together with its foreign partners, doing a proper job on the highways. Our roads do not need patchwork but a complete overhaul.
There should be more transparency around the whole project and Zinara must not take motorists for granted.
Online Reporter