Mozambique required extra tolling of key routes to maintain the country’s road network, Minister of Public Work Joao Machatine told delegates attending an annual meeting of the Integrated Road Sector Programme last Thursday.
To foot the $800 million required to service Mozambique’s road infrastructure, the government of President Filipe Nyusi had adopted a user-pay policy in order to avoid outside funding assistance, Machatine said.
The approach of paying for road maintenance and related services through tolling comes despite resistance to tariffs for crossing the suspension bridge across the Bay of Maputo.
Machatine intimated though that resistance to tolling was a knee-jerk reaction, as hindsight showed that that suspension bridge tariffs were still cheaper than crossing the bay by ferry.
He added that the financial management of an expanded tolling project would be key to the success of such a road-funding scheme.
“It’s not enough just to collect the revenue,” he told independent broadcaster STV.
“It’s important that the Road Fund has management models that meet the expectations generated by this new approach.”
It’s the reason why the Road Fund will be chaired by Angela Macuacua, “a person of recognised competence for managing this institution, as a way of guaranteeing that the resources allocated and the resources collected at the toll gates are used solely and exclusively for the maintenance of the roads”.
