By Staff writer
GOKWE Central legislator Daveson Masvisvi says the country is losing millions of revenue through leakages at toll gates.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Masvisvi noted that the nation was being prejudiced of revenue by toll gate evaders.
A lot of motorists have devised ways to bypass toll gates in the country’s highways, resisting the seemingly exorbitant toll fees.
The Zimbabwe National Roads Administration(ZINARA) charges light motor vehicles between US$3-US$4 on the toll gates depending on the type of road.
Minibuses are required to pay US$5, buses US $8, while heavy vehicles and haulage trucks pay US $ 10 and US $ 20 respectively.
However, the legislator feels, this errant behavior by motorists is depriving the government of revenue.
“I rise with the profound concern over the alarming revenue loss resulting from rampant toll gate evasions as detailed in the Auditor General’s report,” he said.
Masvisvi believes as a result, this has a ripple effect on the maintenance of roads and infrastructure development.
“These leakages estimated to cost the nation millions annually directly undermine our capacity to maintain and rehabilitate critical infrastructure.
“Mr Speaker Sir!, this is a strategy impediment to our national development agenda as outlined in our National Development Strategy (NDS1),” added Masvisvi.
He called on law enforcement agents to descend hard on those evading toll gates calling on the strengthening of monitoring mechanisms.
