By Julius Caleone Mbewe

Parliament has faulted the Roads Fund Administration (RFA) for erecting two tollgates at Chingeni and Kalinyeke on the M1 road.

Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) Chairperson, Shadric Namalomba, has told the Administration during a meeting on Thursday that the development is a serious economic burden to motorists.

In an interview, Namalomba said the decision is unrealistic and questionable.

He said: “Why putting two tollgates in one stretch, what policy did they follow? That stretch between Lilongwe and Blantyre the users are being overburdened.”

But responding to the concerns, RFA Chief Executive Officer, Stewart Malata, said the decision to have two tollgates on one stretch was arrived at in consideration of distance and traffic.

“There is a standard that we are following which guides us the distance between two tollgates on stretch of the road and that standard is an average distance of 100 kilometres and also our study showed that the traffic volumes on that road were the highest,” said Malata.

Ever since its inception last year, government has realised over K500 million from the tollgate.