By CHUSA SICHONE –
TWO thousand motorists accessing the Shimabala, Katuba and Mumbwa toll plazas will enjoy up to 75 per cent discount for 30 days whenever they access those facilities, the National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) has said.
The Agency said that K137,000 was raised at the Mumbwa toll plaza within four days of its operation and was projected to beat the K800,000 revenue of monthly collections.
The 2,000 vehicles were captured as frequent and local users in the ongoing registration exercise at the Shimabala, Katuba and Mumbwa toll plazas.

HAMACHILA

Frequent User Discounts (FUDs) are applicable to motorists who use toll gates on a regular basis while Local User Discounts (LUDs) are for road users who reside within a 10-kilometre radius of a toll station.
NRFA public relations manager Alphonsius Hamachila, who confirmed this in a statement yesterday, said the Shimabala toll plaza recorded 680 frequent users who would be paying K5 for a single access for smaller vehicles and K10 for bigger ones.
Mr Hamachila said 432 had been registered as local users at the Shimabala toll plaza and would be paying K2 for a single passage for smaller vehicles and K15 for vehicles between 2-3 axles.
“Katuba (toll plaza) has recorded 423 frequent users and 123 local users while Mumbwa (toll plaza) has 150 frequent users and 110 local users,” he said.
To be eligible for the FUD, a motor vehicle falling into a certain category is supposed to pass through a particular toll station at least 10 consecutive times within a 30-day period.
The FUD rate shall be 25 per cent of the nominal rates that is K5 and K10, meaning that vehicles eligible for this value proposition shall enjoy up to a 75 per cent rebate in form of FUDs for each passage within a prescribed period.
Road users under the LUD category are expected to pay K2 for single access for their small vehicles or K50 for the whole month, light vehicles with 2–3 axles will pay K15 for single access or K450 for the whole month.
Meanwhile, Mumbwa District Commissioner Felix Ndopu, who informed Mr Hamachila about the K137,000, said the Mumbwa toll plaza had raised the economic profile of the area through job creation and income generation.