LESOTHO IMPRESSED WITH ZAMBIA’S ROAD FUND OPERATIONS
LESOTHO IMPRESSED WITH ZAMBIA’S ROAD FUND OPERATIONS
Lesotho has described Zambia’s Road Fund as one of the best models in the region from which that country will use to develop its legal framework for road financing.
Lesotho, which has for a long time aspired to reform the Road Fund through an Act of Parliament has been undertaking a benchmarking study on Zambia’s National Road Fund Agency (NRFA), its laws, operations, revenue streams, disbursements, and relationship with stakeholders.
Speaking when a delegation from that country’s Road Fund, Ministry of Justice, Law and Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Finance Development Planning, concluded its visit in Lusaka, Head of Lesotho Road Fund’s Legal Unit Mr. Phoka Thene said Zambia’s Road Tolling programme, particularly, was advanced with state-of-the-art internal systems and controls.
And NRFA Public Relations Manager Alphonsius Hamachila said the benchmarking study was done under the auspices of the African Road Maintenance Funds Association (ARMFA) a 34-member continental body whose aim is to share knowledge and experiences on the mobilisation and judicious application of the road fund for road infrastructure development in respective member countries.
Mr. Hamachila said the Agency’s control centre which carries live feed of toll operations from 27 inland toll gates was a key learning point for the Lesotho delegation as it provides the necessary internal controls in road tolling.
He said through the control centre, the NRFA was able to account for vehicle passages and corresponding revenue across the country as the system provided an audit trail for transparency and accountability.