Motorists start paying road toll fees tomorrow

Motorists plying the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway will begin paying toll fees tomorrow.
Mr Allan Ssempebwa, the media communications manager for Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), told Monitor in an interview yesterday that the public has been prepared and are ready to use the expressway.

“We informed the public that we are starting payment this Saturday. We used this week to take the public through how the system operates,”  Mr Ssempebwa said.
“We are also issuing the toll cards and testing the robustness of our tolling infrastructure to ensure that it is able to serve the road users,” he added.
Mr Ssempebwa also said several people have been registering for tolling cards for different categories.

He said for one to get the toll card, they have to present a valid driving permit, national identity card or a passport.
“The cards are free. The road users are only required to load toll fees. In case it is broken, the road user will pay Shs20,000 for a new card,”  Mr Ssempebwa said.
In May 2011, the government acquired a $350 million (about Shs1.2 trillion) loan from Exim Bank of China to finance the construction of the 51.4km Kampala-Entebbe Expressway.
The four-lane expressway comprises two road sections – a 36.94km-long section and a 12.68km-long link road.

According to the loan agreement, the loan repayment schedule runs from July 21, 2019 to January 21, 2032.
The government plans to pay $26.8m (about Shs949b) a year in the 13-year repayment period .
Initially, the government had planned to repay the loan through revenues from the road toll on the Expressway upon its completion.

However, the road toll system had not been implemented and the road was opened to traffic in June 2018.
In July 2019, the government started repaying the loan.
The toll collections will be made by French firm Egis Operations SPA. 
Uganda National Roads Authority has contracted the firm at Shs122b for maintenance and tolling operations for five years.