By:Justicia Shipena
The Road Fund Administration (RFA) has revealed that its fuel levy per liter of petrol and diesel grew over the years from only 68 cents in 2000 to 148 cents in 2022.
RFA’s chief executive officer, Ali Ipinge, said this at a press conference on Thursday, while providing clarity on the planned implementation of toll gates in Namibia.
He also said that the RFA’s adherence to sustainable revenue collection is supported by a fuel levy rate of N$ 1,48 per liter within the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).
“The RFA fuel levy only grew by 80 cents over the last 22 years which is very low compared to regional road funds’ levies that are double that of RFA fuel levy,” Ipinge said
Last week the fund said it targets making about N$750 million per annum from toll gates to be installed at about 23 road sections throughout the country.
Ipinge said currently the fund collects revenue of about N$2.4 billion per annum from the Road User Charging System (RUCS).
He holds the view that with an expanded road network and an ageing network, the current revenue is not and will not be sufficient in the future to fund the road network at optimum levels.
“The gap between what is optimally required and what is collected is in the order of N$2 billion. This excludes backlog funding requirements of about N$500 million for urban roads and streets,” he explained.
Since its establishment in 2000, Ipinge said RFA has not received government funding, adding that the public enterprise is required to fully fund the maintenance of the approximately 49 000 km of road network valued at N$ 120 billion.
Of these 49 000 km, 8 260 km are bitumen surfaced, 39 249 km are gravel, and 189 km are unpaved salt roads.
He said that due to recurrent underfunding over the past 15 years the condition and quality of the road network continue to deteriorate in Namibia.
“About 32% of bitumen surfaced roads are older than 10 years and are no longer able to protect the surface from water penetration and provide the required skid resistance for safer roads, less than 10% is poor to very poor conditions and most of these have already reached its lifespan.”
The CEO further emphasised that there is a need for extensive rehabilitation at a cost of about N$ 5.5 million per km.
“The condition of the gravel road network rapidly deteriorated over the past decade, whereby 49% of the gravel roads are in poor to very poor conditions.”
Ipinge added that to restore the gravel road network, including those leading to tourist destinations, an investment of at least N$675 million per year is required for the next five years to reduce the backlog.
He revealed that the fund invested more than N$ 30 billion in road infrastructure since 2000, which he described as a massive investment that led to Namibia being ranked number one for five consecutive years in Africa and 23 in the world in terms of quality and access to road infrastructure.
“Road transport carries 90% of economic goods in Namibia, therefore allowing our road network to fail, will fail the whole economy.”
Defending the implementation of toll gates, Ipinge said the major economic benefits for road users would be savings in vehicle operating costs due to good pavement surfaces and safety benefits due to providing a safer road and roadway environment.
RFA says it will cost for light and heavy vehicles to drive through every toll gatean estimatedN$0.21/km and N$1.65/km respectively, raking in an amount of about N$1.1 billion a year for the agency.
He said worldwide road authorities and road fund agencies are under financial strain to maintain aging road networks with shrinking resources, resulting in regular maintenance funding gaps and a systematic deterioration of the road infrastructure.
Modern vehicles are traveling longer distances, using less fuel, and causing more wear and tear on the national road network. This, he said, resulted in reduced fuel levy revenue and increasing funding deficits.
Ipinge also argues that fuel demand will phase out and thus make the current funding model unsustainable, while saying that the RUCS is threatened by technological advancements from car manufacturers aimed at curbing carbon emissions.
“Assessing, planning, and management of risk and threats enable better planning. RFA is no exception it has been part of the RFA culture for the good part of a decade now.”
Ipinge added that tolling is not a new thing, citing the example of South Africa which had introduced tolling concepts more than 50 to 60 years ago.
“In recent years, the following countries in SADC, namely Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Angola have introduced tolling to fund the maintenance of their roads,” he said.
He said that the cabinet has approved public consultations which are planned within the next six months. He reiterated that it is not a foregone conclusion that implementation of toll gates will take place.
