Maputo — The Mozambican government's Road Fund and the National Roads Administration (ANE) have announced that seven more toll gates will open on Wednesday.
Four of them are on the country's main north-south highway (EN1). One is at Chidinguele in Gaza province, and three are in the neighbouring province of Inhambane, at Nhacundela, Malova and Mapinhane.
One gate is at Cuaza Chenga, on the N7 highway linking the central provinces of Manica and Tete. The final two are at Congerenge and Utukulu on the N13 highway in the northernmost province of Niassa.
All seven gates will charge the same tolls, ranging from 50 meticais (about 78 US cents, at the current exchange rate) for light vehicles, to 1,000 meticais for the heaviest category of truck. Residents living in the vicinity of the toll gates will pay only 300 meticais a month. Passenger buses and minibuses will pay 300 or 500 meticais a month, depending on size.
The toll gates are part of the Sustainable Road Maintenance Programme (PROASME). Nine other PROASME toll gates are already open.
For most of the post-independence period, there were no tolls on Mozambican roads. That began to change with the Maputo-South Africa motorway, operated by the South African company, Trans-African Concessions (TRAC), which opened in 2000, and where maintenance is largely financed by two toll gates.
The government has insisted that motorists must share in the costs of road maintenance, but there continue to be loud protests against tolls from the motoring lobby.
