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Farai Kuvirimirwa Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE now has 1,2 million vehicles on the roads, but many vehicle owners are not paying road tax, according to the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara).
Zinara says the non-payment of road tax has “meant that there was little going into the road fund thereby making it difficult to increase allocations to road authorities.”

The roads authority added: “There has always been a mismatch between the country’s vehicle population and those that were actually paying for their vehicle fees through the formal system.”

Zinara said it had finished migrating vehicle licencing of vehicles from the manual system to a computerized database which was being used to guide it in allocating funds to road authorities.

“While some motorists complied with the new licensing system, sadly some have not done so,” Zinara said in a statement.
Zinara’s former CEO Frank Chitukutuku last year said the number of unregistered vehicles on their database was as high as 170,000. He said owners of unlicenced vehicles had the tendency of driving around in the mornings and evenings.

Some vehicle owners took licences once and never came back for several years, he added.
Meanwhile, Zinara yesterday took over collection of road access fees (RAF) from motorists  entering the country through the Beitbridge border post.

Previously, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) collected the levies, popularly known as RAF.
Zinara spokesman Augustine Moyo said the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development had mandated the parastatal to collect the fees on  behalf of the government.

He said motorists would now pay bridge toll fees and RAF at Zinara counters within the border post.
Under the new arrangement, motorists entering  the country will pay $10 RAF and $10 bridge toll fees for light vehicles while buses and other heavy vehicles will pay $20 road access fees and $27,50 bridge toll fees.

Haulage trucks will pay $27,50 in bridge toll fees and buy coupons at the Vehicle Inspectorate Department calculated according the distance they wish to travel in the country.

Visitors with foreign registered vehicles will pay $40 to Zimra in carbon tax and third party insurances.
Motorists leaving the country through Beitbridge will pay $10 for light cars and $27,50 for buses and other heavy vehicles in bridge toll fees.

On average, an individual going to South Africa and returning to Zimbabwe through Beitbridge border post in a light vehicle will now need $30 while buses and heavy vehicles will need $75 for bridge toll fees and RAF.

The development comes a few months after the government assumed ownership of the New Limpopo Bridge following the expiry of the build operate and transfer (BOT) arrangement entered into with a private company for the past 20 years.

The new bridge was constructed in 1994 by New Limpopo Bridge (Ltd) and Zinara has since been appointed to collect toll fees on behalf of the government.
It is understood that the private company was realising at least $1,6 million a month in toll fees at Beitbridge border post.

Beitbridge is one of the busiest ports of entry in Southern Africa with an average of 10,000 travellers crossing the border daily, increasing to around 20,000 during peak periods.

An average 2,100 buses, 14,000 haulage trucks and 25,000 private cars pass through the border every month.