By EPN Reporter
MBABANE – Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini wants to know why it is taking a long time for the country to set up toll gates on the country’s roads.
This was said by Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo when speaking about what was discusses at the Cabinet Work Retreat taking place at Royal Villas in Ezulwini. Nxumalo said the prime minister wanted to know why the toll gates were still not erected because they would help government in maintaining the country’s roads.
Nxumalo went on to state that the premier was right in wanting an update in this project because many countries in the Southern African region had toll gates on their roads. He said even Emaswati paid when passing through such toll gates. In other words, Nxumalo said Emaswati paid for the maintenance of the roads of other countries, yet they did not pay for the maintenance of the roads in their own country.
The spokesperson pointed out that government tried to maintain the roads and highlighted that some Emaswati were happy with that initiative. However, it was costly to government to build and maintain the roads all over the country, according to Nxumalo. It was necessary, therefore, for the toll gates to be set up so that they could help government generate money to maintain such important infrastructure.
Nxumalo said what was good about this whole thing was that there was a law that was passed by Parliament, which allowed for the establishment of the Roads Authority, which was going to be responsible for the building and maintenance of the roads of the country. He stated that the Roads Authority was the one that gave birth to the idea of toll gates.
Civil engineering experts from the ministry of public works and transport have been stating that toll gates were good in maintaining roads so that they could be kept in good quality. Keeping roads in good quality, according to the experts, help in reducing accidents and sustaining the ballooning traffic on the roads.
Toll gates accelerate the availability of initial funding for construction and maintenance, compared with traditional tax-based funding. Tolls collected can also be used to repay the loans obtained to finance the construction and upgrading of the roads. It is a self-generating form of income.
Toll roads, according to the engineers, can also significantly increase a country’s growth as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP) over the lifetime of the project. Such projects lead to direct (constructors, builders, architects) and indirect (toll road attendants at toll points, casual workers) job creation.
