A parliamentary committee has revealed that Zimbabwe loses an estimated $24 million every year because around 200,000 vehicles do not pay their vehicle licenses and tollgate fees.
Knowledge Kaitano, the chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development, said that to stop this revenue loss, the tollgate system should be upgraded to toll plazas.
These recommendations were made during the pre-national budget seminar held in Bulawayo. Said Kaitano:
Because there is no aggregated motor vehicle database and the absence of a database system which links CVR, ZIMRA, ZINARA, the Police, and Insurance Council of Zimbabwe, it is estimated that a minimum of 200 000 vehicles are not paying vehicle licenses nor toll gate fees thereby depriving the fiscus of $24 million annually, and an amount which can drill 7000 boreholes annually and 35 000 boreholes by 2030.
The time is now to roll out these toll plazas which were mooted as far back as in 2019.
Kaitano said toll plazas can make more money because the software used by the two system vendors can be upgraded to handle VID certification, road permits, number plate verification, third-party insurance, ZBC insurance, and more. He added:
This will also greatly reduce road accidents. We have been made to understand that Zinara has the funds to build the toll plazas. There is also a need to increase the number of toll plazas for certain roads such as Harare-Masvingo and Bulawayo Victoria Falls.
ZINARA’s acting chief executive, Moses Juma, recently announced that the agency aims to complete the construction of nine toll plazas along the Plumtree-Mutare highway by the end of the year.
Five of these toll plazas are already operational, while the remaining four are expected to be completed within the same timeframe.
ZINARA anticipates collecting approximately $100 million this year from these toll plazas.
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