Revimo promises to resume collection of tolls

Maputo, 26 Jan (AIM) – The Mozambique Road Network Company (Revimo), which operates several of the country’s major roads, has announced that it will resume collecting road tolls as from Monday.

Rioting and destruction halted the collection of tolls in December. Rioters who claimed to be following instructions from former presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane utterly destroyed some of the tollgates.

Mondlane, who claims that he is “the President elected by the People” has ordered that no tolls should be collected in the first 100 days of the new government. He has not suggested any alternative means of raising the money required for road maintenance.

The South African company Trans African Concessions (TRAC), which operates the Maputo-South Africa motorway attempted to resume collection of tolls on Thursday. But, despite a heavy police presence, for most of the day tolls were not paid at the Maputo end of the motorway.

Many motorists, used to travelling on the road free of charge for the previous month, simply refused to pay. They were backed by gangs of young men who threatened to set the tollgate on fire.

Eventually a compromise of sorts was reached. Motorists who were willing to pay the tolls did so, but the majority did not. The excuse given was that, until the roads are repaired, no tolls should be paid.

The argument is entirely dishonest since, with no money from tolls, TRAC will be unable to pay for road repairs. Furthermore, much of the recent damage to the roads was caused by the riots. Barricades of burning tyres have ruined road surfaces.

Whether Revimo will have any greater success than TRAC remains to be seen, an may depend on how many police agents can be sent to protect the Revimo tollgates.

Revimo is basically a state-owned company. 70 per cent of its shares are held by the government’s Road Fund, 15 per cent by the Bank of Mozambique Pension Fund, and 15 per cent by the National Social Security Institute (INSS).

Among the roads operated by Revimo are the Maputo Ring Road (71.4 kilometrs long), the Maputo-KaTembe bridge, and the connecting roads to the border with the South African province of Kwazulu-Natal (187 kilometres), and the Beira-Zimbabwe highway (287 kilometres).

Revimo promises to continue giving discounts on the tolls to frequent users, and to public transport vehicles.
(AIM)
Pf/ (387)