By Nasratu Kargbo
Apart from their insistence that there should be no increment in the toll gate fee, over hundred and seventy Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have demanded that one of the three toll gates is removed together with the barricades created along roads that could have been alternative routes.
CSOs on the 18th of March 2024 handed over a document containing their stance on the tollgate issue to Parliament. The document which was received by a committee clerk dated 14th March 2024 states “To meet international standards and cushion economic burden on the people, we strongly demand the elimination of 1 tollgate”.
The document further stated that the Chinese Railway Seventh Group (CRSG) had breached the contract by erecting barricades in the alternative routes. It states that “The CRSG should unconditionally vacate all blockades they have created on and around the 3 alternative routes areas, as it does not just pose a national security threat, but is also a breach of contract and an egregious assault on the human rights and dignity of Sierra Leoneans”.
The CSOs in their position paper stated that they still maintain their stance of a no increment on the toll fee and urged that an investigation be done on what they described as sticky issues bordering and concerning technical, financial, and legal areas of the contract which according to them are subject to review.
The paper explained that since the last meeting in parliament CSOs have held consultative meetings with citizens all over the country and that they were the ones that decided on the above decisions.
Whilst handing over the document all of the representatives from the different groups disapproved of the increment and asked that the toll fee remain as it is.
Vehicle Owner Mohamed Lamin Warritay said that they ply the tollgate daily, as the highest contributors. He explained that he does fourteen trips to and fro, “If they increase the tollgate fee, it will affect us greatly. We are against the increase on all categories (vehicles)” he said.
Warritay explained that prices of vehicles have skyrocketed so much that it takes the owners three years to be able to recover their capital before thinking of profit. He said adding another thirty-five or forty thousand which is one vehicle’s yearly toll gate fee, will be difficult for them.
Another Vehicle Owner Patricia Summah spoke about the cost of spare parts, paying mechanics and drivers, and called on the government to intervene for them not to go out of business.
She said prices of commodities have increased in the market, saying if the new toll gate charges are introduced there will be a hike in prices of all other commodities.
The proposed increment suggests that Kekeh prices be increased from one to three Leones, Sedan and taxis from two to five Leones, whilst SUVs, Pick Ups, Jeeps, Mini, and Medium Buses up to eighteen seats that used to pay four Leones are to pay ten Leones.
The proposal suggests that Coaches (above 18 seats), light trucks, medium trucks (less than ten tyres), excavators, loaders, and fuel bowsers with two axles pay forty Leones, and vehicles under this category used to pay eighteen Leones.
Those under category five such as heavy trucks with ten tyres and above, trailers, fuel bowsers with tank trailers, semi-trailers, and flatbeds currently pay one hundred and eighty-three Leones and are proposed to pay seven hundred Leones. Whilst fuel bowsers with three to four axles but without trailers are proposed to pay two hundred and fifty Leones, vehicles in this category are currently paying one hundred Leones.
The proposal of the new charges was set to be effective on the 1st of March 2024; however, parliament suspended the implementation of the proposed toll fee.
It is important to note that the monies collected as toll fee is collected in Leones, but paid in dollars. The agreement is set to last for twenty-seven years.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (20/03/24)
