Five more toll stations will be erected in the future on some major roads in the provinces of Niassa in the north, Inhambane and Gaza in the south. The initiative is part of the implementation of the Self-Sustaining Road Maintenance Programme (PROASME).
To achieve this objective, the National Road Administration (ANE) has just announced the launch of tenders to hire contractors to build a tollbooth in Utuculo, in Chimbunila district, along the N13 road and a similar one in Congerenge, in Mandimba district, along the same road in Niassa.
In another tender, ANE intends to make possible the construction of three toll stations in the district of Inharrime, Malova and Mapinhane, in the province of Inhambane.
In a third tender, the entity responsible for the maintenance of national roads plans to hire a contractor to build a toll station at Chidenguele administrative post in Gaza province.
In recent contact with our newspaper, the executive administrator of the National Road Fund, Irene Langa Simões, explained that these tolls are part of phase 1 of PROASME, which is the one that does not require major works for its execution.
She explained that for the subsequent phases, more tolls are planned for the provinces of Manica, Zambézia, Tete, Nampula and Cabo Delgado.
PROASME is a programme approved last November by the government with the aim of promoting the preservation of the investment made in the road network, through the collection of revenue, in about 3800 kilometres.
New toll charges were introduced on 2 January in Gaza, Inhambane, Manica, Sofala, Zambézia, Tete, Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces.
The approval of PROASME also included changing the category of eight bridge tolls on local roads such as Lúrio in Cabo Delgado; Ligonha in Nampula, Licungo in Zambézia, Púnguè Sul and Lucite in Manica; Save in Inhambane, Guijá and Xai-Xai in Gaza.
For the Government, PROASME will be implemented through revenue collection and toll fees, in addition to current sources of resources to fund the maintenance of this infrastructure.
The executive believes that the approved tolls will ensure the participation of users in the maintenance of this infrastructure as part of the implementation of road policy in the country.
This initiative joins others already underway, such as the Integrated Road Sector Programme (PRISE), established to meet the priorities and objectives of road sector policy in support of the Government’s Five Year Programme.
Under this initiative, the World Bank announced last year a USD 110 million fund for the rehabilitation of access roads in provinces affected by cyclones
