‘Electric cars pose threat to road funds’

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IRENE SEME

MASERU – The advent of electric cars poses a threat to income streams for road funds in the southern Africa region and elsewhere. Regional Road Fund establishments convened at the ’Manthabiseng Convention Centre for the first ever preparatory meeting for the African Roads Maintenance Funds Association (ARMFA) Annual General Assembly (AGA). Themed ‘Sustainability of Road Maintenance Funds’ the general assembly will be held in Dakar, Senegal at the beginning of May this year. The purpose of the three-day meeting in Maseru is for the Road Funds to keep abreast with developments in the funding of the roads sector in the region and to jointly prepare for the ARMFA assembly.

This meeting is convened under the mother body ARMFA through its Southern Africa wing known as ASAFG (ARMFA Southern Africa Focal Group).   The meeting is attended by six southern Africa countries which are Angola, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambigue, including Lesotho as the host. Delegates in attendance cited challenges faced by roads funds in Africa mentioning that some of them include the invention of electric cars which are a threat to collection of petrol levy that assists with road maintenance.

Delivering his keynote address on behalf of Minister of Finance, the Minister of Defence, Halebonoe Setšabi, said it is important for governments to support the initiatives of the Road Funds in the southern Africa region as good road infrastructure is an important asset that can boost the economic status of the region. Setšabi said, “Road Funds are entrusted to provide solutions in financing and maintenance of roads and to align themselves with new developments in the sector.”

He hoped that through this meeting, delegates will be able to come up with innovative solutions to deal with any challenges that the sector is faced with, especially the emergence of electric cars, which have the potential to limit revenue collection streams like the road maintenance levy. He asserted: “Roads Funds you have to ensure that the roads are up to the required standards in order to serve the population of this continent effectively and satisfactorily.” Deputy Chairperson of ASAFG and CEO of Road Fund in Lesotho, Nkekeletse Makara said the main aim of the association is to provide a platform where road funds are able to share ideas and support each other to grow.

“There are countries such as Mozambique and Malawi that have gained for being part of the association; for the first time these countries have erected tolls and are charging toll fees with which they are able to improve their road conditions,” Makara said. He further said to be able to sustain roads, road funds have to collect money from road users and as an association they are faced with a lot of challenges including how to effectively collect charges from road users.

Despite that, Makara noted that through the association, countries learn from one another and countries like Malawi and Mozambique have recently launched toll projects after learning from Zambia and Zimbabwe. “We’ve seen that the tolls make a difference in terms of sustaining the roads and we just have to make them relevant to the environment we operate in,” he added.

President of ARMFA and CEO of Namibia Road Fund Administration, Ali Ipinge, alluded to the fact that the Road Funds are faced with the challenge of electric cars because fuel levy is the backbone of road funds. “We are seeing the emergence of electric cars, certainly those are great innovations for road users and motorist alike in that they don’t have to spend a lot on fuel as they travel but to us they pose a huge challenge and we have to find alternative ways of supporting the maintenance of roads,” Ipinge emphasised.

The chairperson of ASAFG Professor and CEO of Mozambique Road Fund, Angelo Macuacua, noted that this current meeting was called to prepare the common positions as ASAFG to be presented at the AGM in Senegal. ARMFA was founded in 2003 in Libreville, Gabon and it is a non-political and non-profit association that aims to form a platform, a network for experience and information sharing on best road maintenance practices in Africa.

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