Govt urged to consider reducing toll fees charged on motorists

Maxson Nkhoma – CSPR Eastern Provincial Coordinator

The Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) in Eastern province has urged the government to consider reducing toll fees charged on motorists when passing through toll gates.

CSPR Eastern Province Coordinator Maxson Nkhoma tells QFM News via telephone that while CSPR fully supports government policy to introduce toll gates on all major roads as a way of increasing domestic tax mobilization and help maintain and rehabilitate roads, it has noted with serious concern the unreasonable amounts being charged on motorists passing through toll gates.

Mr. Nkhoma says this has the potential of having a negative effect on transportation of goods and services in the country.

He says it is unreasonable to charge K150 for heavy goods trucks on each toll gate while charging between K30 and K50 for smaller vehicles.

He notes that these high tolls fees being charged at toll gates is in additional to other forms of taxes charged to motorists such as fuel levy, road tax, road Fitness tax and road license tax.

Mr. Nkhoma states that the introduction of toll fees in Zambian was overwhelmingly supported by the civil society movement in the country on a basis of increasing domestic tax mobilization to finance road maintenance and rehabilitation and not as a way of punishing citizens for owning vehicles.