By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
ABOUT K1.4 billion has been collected by the Na- tional Road Fund Agency (NRFA )this year up to July against the target of K1.7 billion, representing col- lection performance of 78 percent.
NRFA collected K6.8 bil- lion from toll gates between November 2013 and July this year.
There have been some significant improvements and this is by way of increas- ing the number of toll gates, according to the NRFA Di- rector and Chief Executive Officer, Wallece Mumba.
This came to light at the virtual launch of the Toll Gate Study conducted by the Zambia Tax Platform in partnership with the Cen- tre for Trade Policy and Development focusing on the utilisation of toll fees in Zambia.
“We have also enhanced controls. We have the con- trol centre here and even the audit system in terms of how much is collected and how we account for the money at the toll gate, which we have improved significantly over time,” Mr Mumba said.
He explained that NRFA was working closely with partners such as the Road Development Agency in an effort to increase toll gates.
“We introduced some ini- tiatives where even foreign trucks would be paying at toll gates unlike the situa- tion in the past where they would only pay at the bor- der. So you would find that with that introduction it increases the revenue quite well,” Mr Mumba said.
At the same function, Isaac Mwaipopo, Executive Director at the Centre for Trade Policy and Develop- ment stressed the need to find alternatives for financ- ing road infrastructure oth- er than borrowing.
Mr Mwaipopo also said the main purpose of the study was to tract the utili- sation of toll fees.
