Expect to pay Swazi tolls buy next June

SWAZILAND’S MAIN eastwest
highway may start
collecting tolls as early as
June. Parliament finally
passed legislation last week
setting up a company to
manage toll plazas located
near the Oshoek border post,
used for traffic to and from
Gauteng, the Ezulwini Valley
east of Mbabane, and a third
station west of the Matsapha
Industrial Estate.
Road freight traffic
headed for or leaving
Matsapha from Mozambique
and Durban will pass through
the eastern toll plaza.
The Ministry of
Transportation and Public
Works has decried MPs
for the delay in passing
the enabling legislation,
but in fact there has been
no hurry. Tolls cannot be
collected until the highway is
finished, and a main section
– a bypass road around
downtown Mbabane – is still
under construction.
The first portion of the
bypass road, which has
stalled traffic for years,
opened as a one-way one
lane artery last week.
Toll fees for commercial
and private vehicles have
not been announced, but
transportation experts say
it is unlikely that famously
stingy Swazis will gladly pay
them. They’re likely to opt
instead for the old national
highway running through
Ezulwini to Matsapha.
“They’ll travel at highway
speeds through residential
areas. There will just be
carnage,” predicted the
owner of one Matsaphabased
road freight firm.
Minister of Transport
Elijah Shongwe said tolls
were needed to maintain
the highway and pay off
loans from international
lending bodies that financed construction.