Luanda - The Angolan government announced Thursday in Luanda the installation of toll stations at borders and on the structural axes of national roads, with the aim of finding new sources of funding for the conservation and maintenance of the country's road infrastructure.
The information is expressed in the final communiqué of the Economic Commission of the Council of Ministers, chaired by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, which examined the Draft Presidential Decree approving the Plan for the Installation of Toll Stations at Borders and on the Structural Axes of National Roads.
According to the document, the Decree arises from the need to find new sources of funding for road infrastructure conservation and maintenance actions and to allow traffic counting within the national road network and control of the volume of vehicles circulating on them.
The Economic Commission also considered a law aimed at approving the Heavy Vehicle Weighing Plan, a legal instrument that will allow the control, registration and prevention of the circulation of heavy vehicles through the implementation of fixed and mobile weighing stations on the main sections of the national road network, in order to prevent the circulation of heavy vehicles weighing more than legally permitted.
The aim, according to the press release, is to curb the overloading of heavy vehicles on the road. Initially, 14 toll stations were approved for the border areas.
Speaking to the press at the end of the Economic Commission meeting, the Minister for Public Works, Urbanism and Housing, Carlos Alberto da Silva, explained that the priority will be to install toll stations in the border areas of Massabi and Yema (Cabinda), Noqui and Luvo, in Zaire province, Santa Clara (Cunene) and Luau in Moxico.
He said that over the next five years, the government expects to collect revenue from toll stations estimated at 125 billion kwanzas, pointing out that the country currently has only two toll stations that operate outside border areas: Barra do Kwanza and the Serra da Leba toll station. The government has approved updating the values of these two toll stations.
Currently, in Barra do Kwanza the minimum amount is 100 Kwanzas and the maximum is 2,000 Kwanzas, depending on the class of the vehicle or the means by which it is used. With the price update, the values should be around 250 for the minimum and 7,000 for the maximum.
According to the minister, the aim is to curb the overloading of the heavy vehicles that circulate there.
In addition to the borders, the weigh stations will also be installed on the essential routes along national roads 230, 100, A 105 and A 120.
The government also plans to install these stations on the international road corridors linking Angola with other countries.
The country has a network of 79,300 kilometers of roads, of which around 27,600 kilometers are national and 51,700 kilometers are municipal, as well as 4,000 bridges.
Of the 27,600 kilometers of national roads, 11,400 kilometers are in good condition and of the 51,700 kilometers of municipal roads, 15,000 kilometers of secondary roads are also in good condition, according to the minister.
“To maintain these roads, the government has to have a very large financial equation and it doesn't always have that. And one of the main aspects we've seen today is the approval of the National Weighing Plan,” he said.
According to the minister, this plan aims to stop the state spending very high amounts because there are excessive loads on national roads.DC/ART/TED/AMP
