TWO tollgates, one situated 9km west of Triangle on the Ngundu-Tanganda Road and the other 17,5km from Chivhu on the Chivhu-Nyazura Road stopped operating from Sunday, Zinara announced in a statutory instrument last week, while other tollgates are scheduled to be moved or upgraded.
“The Zimbabwe National Road Administration would like to advise the motoring public that the Triangle and Magamba tollgates have been suspended with effect from 31st December, 2022 in terms of Statutory Instrument 219 of 2022. The suspension of operations at these tollgates is part of our continuous operational review. Zinara takes this opportunity to thank the motoring public for their continued co-operation,” Zinara said.
Another five tollgates on the outskirts of cities and towns are set to be moved further out as the expanding urban areas lap around them.
This will make them once again highway tollgates and ease the financial burden on motorists living in peri-urban areas who have to pay road tolls twice daily on their way to and from work.
Tollgates set to be relocated are Skyline, Dema, Lion’s Den, Umguza and Shamva.
The Shamva tollgate is set to be moved to the 40km peg along the Harare-Nyamapanda Highway.
Other tollgates are to be upgraded to standard levels at Norton, Esigodini, Mushagashi, Mupfurudzi and Colleen Bawn.
In May last year, Zinara said it was making headway on plans to establish an e-tolling system to reduce operating costs from toll fees collection. When implemented, most motorists are expected to pay upfront and then just drive, without stopping at tollgates while the fees are automatically deducted as they drive through. This is now common in many countries.
According to Zinara, toll fees collections are gobbling about 18-30 percent of the total revenue, a somewhat high figure, hence efforts to introduce the e-tolling facility.
In historical terms, toll fees collections totalled $1, 2 billion in 2020, 556 percent higher than the $183 million realised in 2019.
Zinara was, however, still dependent on agents like Intertoll and Univern for toll fees collections.
E-tolling is a cashless system that allows road users to make payments for road use with card facilities or e-tags at toll gates, allowing payments without vehicles having to stop. The process does not require physical toll booths on the highways.
Responding to stakeholder queries on progress towards e-tolling at the company’s 5th annual general meeting recently, Zinara chief executive Mr Nkosinathi Ncube said they were making good progress and are already in the selection phase for an implementation partner. – The Herald
