LILONGWE (Maravi Post)—Malawi government has suspended the much anticipated installation of tollgates on some major roads in the country due to what it has described as technical glitches and lack of funding.The implementation of the project has been shifted to December this year as the Ministry of transport and public works is working on the disparities that have caused the project to stall.
Initially, the Ministry was supposed to have conducted all the feasibility studies and identify contractors for the project by July.
The project which was expected to start mid this month attracted mixed views from different quarters of the society as many believe Malawi does not have what it takes to successfully implement a project of such magnitude.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Maravi Post, Minister of transport and public works Malison Ndau indicated that the ministry discovered that some roads needed to be added while others are to be removed from the list of targets.
“We discovered that some roads are no longer worthy to be included in the project and we have added new roads to the list and we are waiting for a progress report from the technical people on the ground”
He added: “Also holding back the project is lack of funding, we expected to be provided with funds following the passing of the national budget but the money has been allocated elsewhere for other activities”
Currently the roads earmarked for the project have risen to over 40 from the initial 39 in all the regions of the country.
Meanwhile, when this reporter took to the streets of the Capital City to seek views of some members of the general public, many indicated that the whole project was a nonstarter saying the move will force public transporters to increase fares.
“The project will be good for the development of the country but this will force us to dig deep into our pockets as transport fares will obviously go up” lamented one man who spoke on the state of anonymity.
The installation of tollgates has been described by the Peter Mutharika government as one way of soliciting funds to complement the meager resources that government has to implement different developmental projects.
Many African countries have adopted the system which not only helps in raising funds for governments but also help in controlling traffic flow in the main and busy roads in cities and towns.