adminNduduzo Tshuma Senior Reporter
TRANSPORT and Infrastructural Development Minister Dr Obert Mpofu says it is embarrassing that workers at the Hwange tollgate are exposed to dangerous conditions and has pledged to facilitate a speedy construction of a proper tollgate to ensure their safety.
His remarks follow revelations that workers at the Hwange tollgate were knocking off in the evening abandoning the facility as they feared attacks from wild animals.
“We’re constructing a proper toll plaza. Plans are being designed for that toll gate. It’s embarrassing that that we have subjected workers to such dangerous conditions,” he told Chronicle.
Dr Mpofu, who met driving school operators in Bulawayo, said the government was not going back on urban tolling and urged the motoring public to cooperate in the implementation of the project.
He said neighbouring South Africa was already charging more in toll fees than what the country was charging.
“We’re going to build the tollgates. It’s the government initiative that has been passed in cabinet. We’re not going to seek any foreign partnerships but we need cooperation from motorists for the project,” said Dr Mpofu.
“There’s a perception that Zinara is collecting a lot of money, which is wrong. The fee received annually is $40 million, which can only do a 30 km road.
“If you’ve that money you’ll take hundreds of years to complete projects so the solution is to increase toll fees.”
Dr Mpofu said besides urban tolling, plans were underway to construct toll gates in every major road in the country.
“To guarantee that our roads are in perfect condition we need to raise funds in tolling from those very roads. In South Africa, their roads are in perfect condition because they collect toll fees from their roads,” he said.
The minister said with adequate funding they could introduce electronic tolling like in South Africa.
“That is in our plans but we want to start with something that we can afford then move to other technologies with time and when funds permit,” he said.
Dr Mpofu said roads in urban centres were in worse state than national roads.
“The urban roads are the responsibility of local councils. On my way here I found council employees making markings of a road with pot holes and I inquired for what purpose. I was told that they were acting on instructions from their superiors,” he said.
“We distributed state of the art pothole filling machines to urban councils that can fill pot holes within a month but eight months on we still have potholes.
“The problem is that some people want to politicise things. Those are government programmes. They want to ask where something is coming from instead of using the machines to mend the roads.”
derick.khumalo