Road users to fork out 10% more

State owned, Road Fund Administration earlier this week announced a 10% hike to all the Road User Charges with effect from 1 May, so that the fund can be able to manage the National Road Network and finance new and back-logged projects.

The current business plan for the administration for 2015 – 2020, projects total funding of N$9.1 billion, on average of N$1.8billion per annum. Said RFA chief executive, Ali Ipinge, “due to an increasing demand for maintenance of our national road network, as well as the need for new roads, it has now become absolutely imperative to increase the Road User Charges imposed by the RFA.”
According to Ipinge the rise in tariffs come as, total revenue which was raised by the Fund by way of Road User Charges accelerated from N$1.4 billion in 2012/2013 to N$1.6 billion in 2013/2014. “This resulted in an increase of 15% year on year. These increases resulted in additional control and monitoring measures particularly at our Cross Border Charges offices as well as an increase in economic activities over the past year,” he added. “The lack of tariffs hikes for the Road Fund during these years, has effectively curtailed proper maintenance of the national road network. Going forward and subject to necessary approval by the government, it is our intention to revise our tariffs annually in line with inflation,” he said. The additional funding by the Fund is required to finance vital road projects that include the dual carriage way construction between Windhoek and Okahandja; the rehabilitation of the road between Windhoek and Hosea International Airport; the rehabilitation of the Windhoek to Rehoboth road, while the other funds will be channelled to a number of other projects in the Fund’s pipeline.
Said Ipinge the affected Road User Charges will include: Motor Vehicle License and Vehicle Registration Fees, Cross-Border Charges, Mass Distance Charges, Abnormal Load Fees and Fuel Levies. Meanwhile Ipinge highlighted the achievements of the Fund, especially the surfaced condition for the road network that has improved from 17% of the previous years to 12% currently. “This is due to major reseal works that are currently happening. About 112 km bitumen road was constructed to date, exceeding the target of 100km/ annually. More than 98 km of gravel road has been constructed to date exceeding the target of 90 km annually,” he said.