By Joseph S. Margai in Freetown, Sierra Leone
China Railway Seventh Group (CRSG) that company that is constructing the Wellington-Masiaka toll road is said to be losing greatly on a daily basis due to the failure of heavy-duty trucks to pass through the tollgates.
The CRSG, which is implementing a US$161m project, has only constructed the road from Wellington-Yams Farm and has already instituted three tollgates that drivers are paying certain amounts of money to pass through them.
However, drivers of heavy-duty trucks have been boycotting all the three tollgates and prefer to use the alternative road despite its horrible condition because of the huge cost of payment at the tollgates. The alternative to the toll road came into existence after many civil society organizations have raised their voices against the toll road charges and called for an alternative.
At the moment, the alternative road is very horrible, making it impassible for smaller vehicles but heavy-duty trucks force their way through the muddy road in order to avoid paying Le549, 000 ($7, 500usd) to pass through all the three tollgates.
In a fact-finding mission embarked on by our Correspondent in order to know why heavy trucks have been boycotting the tollgates, a driver of a heavy duty truck with a registration number AMG 737, Santigie Bangura, said they decided to use the alternative road because of the huge amount of money that they are charged to pay at the toll gates.
“Imagine, if this truck is loaded with cement from Freetown to Makeni, the trader pays me Le2m and I have to pay the owner of the vehicle the sum of Le1m. I have to buy fuel and I have to pay the total sum of Le, 1,098,000 to and from Makeni using the toll gates, what have I worked,” he asked, saying that even though the alternative road is very bad, they have no option but to use it.
He revealed that most times, their vehicles are trapped in the mud on the alternative road and they would spend the whole day trying to get themselves out of the trap.
Another driver, who spoke to this reporter on the alternative road, Sorie Turay, said government should review the payment at the tollgates and reduce it so that they would start passing through them.
“That amount that we are paying to and from the regions using the toll gates is too much. We are not realizing anything as drivers if we use it. The police checkpoint at Mile 38 has been removed but there are other police interception points along the highway where we spend some amount of money. The burden is too much on us, he claimed.
Some of the collectors at the various tollgates, who preferred anonymity, said they could only realize better revenue collection from heavy-duty trucks.
“The other categories are paying two thousand Leones (Le2,000), four thousand Leones (Le4,000) and the highest is eighteen thousand Leones (Le18,000). But the heavy duty trucks are paying one hundred and eighty-three thousand Leones (Le183,000) per each toll gate and now they are boycotting the toll gates, is a big loss for us,” they said.
The anonymous speakers said even the Chinese contractors are frowning at the situation where heavy-duty trucks that should pay huge sum of money are now boycotting.
