NAREP QUERIES MANYUMBI TOLLGATE COMPLETION DELAY
By CHIKUMBI KATEBE MANYUMBI Toll Gate remains uncompleted despite millions of kwacha being collected at that particular toll gate having been the first toll gate established in Zambia, National Restoration Party secretary general Ezra Ngulube.
Mr Ngulube said the facility has remained underdeveloped despite it being one of the oldest toll gates in the country, responsible for collecting huge amounts from motorists who were being tortured to drive the dusty, now muddy diversion at the site.
He said the National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) has no excuse for maintaining the status quo at the place they have collected millions of kwachas towards the maintenance of road infrastructure in the country.
“If you look at the state of Manyumbi Toll Gate, it is a pathetic site even for the operators of these facilities who are forced to work in submerged booths. When it is raining those booths get flooded.
“This toll gate was one of the first to be constructed in Zambia; it has been making millions of kwacha for the Government from the word go, and yet it has been under construction for the past three years, and there is no justification from the NRFA on the continued delays,” he said.
He said it is unjustifiable that motorists were being forced to use the diversion route.
And Mr Ngulube has challenged NRFA to account for the money collected from Manyumbi and yet the facility still operated without completion, and worse off without a contractor on site.
He said the agency must explain to the Zambian people what they have been doing with all the money they have been collecting from Manyumbi and any other toll gates.
“There is need for Zambians just this once to get value for our money. We have complied in paying road toll fees, just look at how many toll gates there are between Lusaka and the Copperbelt? Three or four but we still pay.
“Where do they take the money collected from Manyumbi? And it’s a toll on our motor vehicles which have high maintenance costs,” he said.
He said as NAREP, they have intentions of writing to the NRFA and the Central Provincial Minister’s office on behalf of the Zambian people to inquire over prolonged delays in the completion of Manyumbi Toll Gate.