By Joseph S. Margai in Freetown, Sierra Leone
Tolling along the Freetown-Waterloo route seems to be experiencing set back so far with the protest by commercial vehicles owners plying the route. The commercial drivers have on Monday and Tuesday, 21st and 22nd August, 2017 respectively boycotted the toll gate at Hastings, demanding an increment in transport fares before they start to pass through the gate.
The tollgate is situated in the ongoing widening of the Wellington-Masiaka road. The construction exercise project was a loan of US$161 million from the Chinese government and the passenger vehicles plying the road will have to be repaying the loan for a period of 27 years.
The government, through the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA), has come up with prices for various categories of vehicles that ply the route.
The categories include tricycle, taxis with five passengers, mini buses including jeeps, 30-passenger coach/medium size buses, and 10-tyre/heavy duty trucks. The tricycle will pay Le1, 000 ($0.13usd) per toll gate, taxis with five passengers would pay Le2, 000 ($0.27usd), mini buses and jeeps would pay Le4, 000 ($0.53usd), 30 passengers’ coach would pay Le18, 000 (2.40usd) and 10-tyre trucks would pay Le183, 000 (24.40usd) per each toll gate
A driver with the commercial vehicle registration, Mohamed Turay, told Groove 106FM in an interview Tuesday morning that they decided to boycott the route because the government has deliberately failed to increase the transport fare from Freetown to Waterloo.
“I am paying Le4,000 ($0.53usd) each time I pass through the tollgate and I make six trips per day, which means I am passing through the gate for about 12 times a day. You can do the mathematics by calculating how much I spend on a daily basis at the tollgate. Do you know how much? I pay Le48,000 ($6.40 usd) daily since the payment started on 18th August, 2017,” he said.
He revealed that the transport fare for the Freetown-Waterloo route still remains Le2,500 ($0.33usd), adding that they have to buy fuel and pay to the vehicle owners the same amount that they have been paying ever since.
“What we do now is to stop at Rogbangba junction and the passengers would walk for like ten or more minutes to cross the tollgate and board another vehicle waiting at Hastings junction. By so doing, we would not pay fees at the tollgate,” he said.
Another driver, Santigie Kamara, said since Monday 21st August, 2017, they have been making half way trips, noting that it was not their choice to do so but the refusal on the part of the government to do an increment in the transport fare from Freetown-Waterloo has been the major cause.
“We would continue until the government changes its position or revisit the transport fare. At the moment, we are facing the consequences of this whole toll road thing because the payment is done by drivers and no one else,” he said.
Passengers plying the route have expressed their dissatisfaction over the manner in which the drivers have been treating them.
“We have been made to walk for about twenty minutes (20) to cross the tollgate and catch another vehicle at Hastings junction. They drop us at Rogbangba junction and return to Waterloo,” said Mabinty Sesay, a commuter interviewed on Tuesday morning.
President of Motor Drivers and General Transport Workers Union, Alpha Amadu Bah, said the drivers had wanted to ground their vehicles on Monday, but he pleaded with them to continue to serve the public so that the passengers would not suffer.
With regards to the increment in the transport fare, he said, negotiations are at an advanced stage by the Union executives, the government and other players.
He called on the drivers to continue to exercise patient as the union is making frantic efforts to come up with an amount of money that would please all parties.
