31 Jul 2024

The Ministry of Transport and Public Works is looking into establishing a road authority or agency to replace the current Roads Department.

This was said by Minister Eric Molale in response to a question in Parliament on Tuesday.

“Our road networks are an asset to this nation and they benefit us in growing the economy of the country,” Mr Molale said.

He indicated that there were major or critical roads that connected Botswana to her neighbours and because of the heavy investment on such roads, all foreign registered vehicles that entered the country were charged road user fees while Botswana registered vehicles paid annual licensing fees for use of the road or as road user fees.

He said the ministry, in its effort to enhance government revenues and optimise road network investments, had successfully sought and got approval from the Cabinet to increase road levy by 25thebe from P0.90 to P1.15 with effect from April this year.

He said the ministry experienced challenges in collecting the appropriate levy due to non disclosure of actual quantities imported by some fuel suppliers.

“In order to close this leakage in revenue, my ministry has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) to start collecting the levy at the point of entry effective April this year and this is bearing fruit as the correct amount is being collected,” he said.

He stated that if revenue collected as road user charges from both locally registered vehicles and foreign registered vehicles was directed to road maintenance and development and not to the consolidated fund, it would improve the road network of the country.

He indicated that the Trans Kalahari Highway was a regional corridor that links different countries to the port of Walvis Bay in Namibia. He pointed out that the corridor linked with the

Maputo Corridor and the North South Corridor and therefore was mainly used by trucks from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“The user fees charged to the trucks using the Trans Kalahari Corridor are based on the vehicle mass, hence different trucks are charged differently,” he explained.

He further told Parliament that the Department of Road Transport and Services (DRTS) had engaged BURS to collect road user charges from all foreign registered vehicles on its behalf at all points of entry and the revenue collected was then remitted to government treasury or consolidated fund.

“Botswana’s road user fees structure compares very well with that of her neighbours in the SADC member states even though they use different systems. Botswana and Namibia use a permit system to collect road user charge. This is whereby you pay at the point of entry into a country. South Africa uses a tolling system, whereby toll plazas are installed along the roads for collecting road user fees.

“Zambia uses both the permit system and tolling. South Africa has the lowest road user charges, while Botswana and Zambia have harmonized their charges except that Zambia has additional charges like carbon,” Mr Molale explained.

He added that the current road user fees were last reviewed in 2021 and were comparable to that of the neighbouring states.

“Botswana is a transit country and therefore we should not over charge the transit traffic that is using our roads, least we deter them from using our roads opting for alternative routes.

This will deny us the revenue that we could have realised,” he said.

Currently, Mr Molale said road infrastructure maintenance was funded through fuel levy, adding “and I am considering requesting that while we are remitting the revenue from the road user charges to the Consolidated Fund, part of that should be made available for road maintenance and development.

This is if we do not establish a road authority or agency”. Kanye

North MP, Mr Thapelo Letsholo had asked the minister to update Parliament on the ministry’s efforts to enhance government revenues and optimise road network investments, including the potential transformation of the Department of Roads into an independent roads agency to reduce the burden on the national fiscus related to road construction and maintenance, particularly how it ensured an increased return on investment in road networks on critical routes like the Trans-Kalahari Highway.

The MP further wanted to know if the ministry was open to considering a review of the road fees in Botswana, with the aim to contribute to cost recovery and supporting ongoing roads infrastructure maintenance. Ends