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Vehicles to pay between N200 and N500 toll per trip
By Egena Sunday Ode
The Federal Government has said it is now set to reintroduce toll collections on dual carriageways across the country.
However, only 14.3 percent of the entire 35,000 kilometres federal roads that are dual carriageways will be eligible for tolling with vehicles paying between N200 and N500 per trip depending on their make, while diplomatic, military, para-military as well as trycyles and motorcycles will be exempted.
Recall that the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo dismantled all toll plazas on federal roads across the country in 2003.
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fasola, made these disclosures Wednesday while briefing newsmen at the end of the weekly virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja,
Fasola said his Ministry presented a memo which the Council approved for tolling to be reintroduced on dual carriageways of the 35,000 kilometers federal roads.
He noted that dual carriageways represented only 5,050 kilometres out of the total 35,000 kilometres.
“So the total network of roads today, assuming we wanted to start today, which we’re not that will be eligible for tolling on federal network will be 14.3% of the total network. So 85.27% will not be eligible for tolling. We have seen that most of those dual carriageways also have alternative roads, but they are single carriageway that’s why we left them. So the only exception to single carriageway are some bridges and they are listed in the regulation”.
According to the Minister, with the FEC giving a go-ahead for the reintroduction of toll plazas in selected roads, modalities are now being worked out to determine how soon the tolling system will take off.
He said: “The Ministry of works and housing presented a policy memorandum for the approval of federal roads, bridges, tolling policy, and also a regulation that will provide legal framework for the tolling policy. So we have taken another step. So let me be clear, tolls are not going to start tomorrow. So let us be clear about that.
“But the big step to actual tolling was taken today by presenting for approval the broad policy that will guide the tolling so that local people, states, local governments, all those who manage roads, investors who want to come in, will know what our tolling policy is. And that will form the basis of their financial modelling, their investment decision.
He emphasised that the open tolling system to be introduced will not commence until the affected roads are motorable while agreements as to how the plazas will have to be negotiated with relevant government agencies.
“First of all, toll will not start until roads are motorable. So let’s be clear about this.
There will be agreements that have to be placed, negotiated with government through the Ministry of works and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission. Some of the highlights are that we will adopt an open tolling policy as distinct from a closed tolling policy. The difference is that only open tolling policy, which is what we were used to before you pay to at a barrier over a fixed or predetermined distance. The close toll systems means that you will pay tolls over the distance you travel and the size of your vehicle. We haven’t operated that before. So we are going back to what we know. We also approve that consultations must be done. Willingness to pay surveys must be done before specific roads are tolled”, Fasola said.
The Minister also said the toll collected apart from being used to maintain the roads will also be used to construct new ones while the toll system will be electronically driven for transparency.
According to him: “We also got approval that the toll will be used to maintain roads, to construct new roads as they accrue and also to pay the investors who invest in building or completing a road and then take a concession on it. Those are the uses.
“We will also be going through a process of largely electronic toll collection and management system for audit and transparency. We’ll still have some cash at the very many more and hopefully phased that out as we go ahead”.
He listed those vehicles to be exempted from paying tolls to include diplomatic, military, para-military vehicles as well as motorcycles, bicycles, trycles
“We have proposed and council has approved that certain types of vehicles be exempted for paying tolls. Those are bicycles, pedal cycles, try cycles, motorcycles, and others that have two or three wheeled transport used mainly by disadvantaged members of our community, they will be entitled to a fully 100% exemption, as will be diplomatic and military and para military vehicles.
“We concede this as a national policy that’s why we’re making very general framework. So that states can also decide subject to their local laws, local government can do their own tolling based on all of these considerations as a broad framework”.
He added that vehicles plying the tolled highways will pay between N200 and N500 per trip depending on the capacity of the vehicle.
According to the Minister: “We need to have a kick off policy. So we’ve classified vehicles into five categories, the cars, the SUVs and the jeeps as a second category. Private bus and commercial bus as third and fourth categories. And then luxury buses and trucks as a fifth category.
So the start off tolls that we have for financial modelling and investment decision making, cars will pay N200, SUVs and Jeeps will pay N300, private busses will pay N300, commercial buses will pay N150, luxury buses and trucks will pay N500.
“Now I think it is important to share with you how we arrived at these prices. Some of these prices were recommended by the operators themselves that I said we met. Some of them were also obtained from a survey we did across the six geo-political zones, talking to households and talking to people in the garages, motor parks and all of that, which was quite extensive. We covered about 17 or so states or 22 states out of the national framework just to get a sampling of what people felt”.
