E-Tolling on African Roads - What is going on?

The desire of African states to address the state of transportation infrastructure has forced a range of investment options on policy makers.
With ostensible pressure from donor agencies and multilateral partners, private sector-led financing has taken prime spot in these investment arrangements. And because of the need to balance the upfront commitment of funds by investors, for the first time, many African citizens are facing a wave of road tolling projects in their backyard.
Road transport is the backbone of African economies and most people have some form of interaction with the road, rural or urban.

In Nigeria, the Lagos state government has been battling resistance by citizens to the road tolling scheme on the growing economic hub of Lekki-Epe Axis. The state government had given the Lekki Concession Company, LCC, the 30-year period of the concession with a view to upgrading the inadequate road previously in place. Massive protests were held and court actions filed by residents. So far their objections have not achieved a stoppage of the project as the LCC has commenced collection of tolls from the Victoria Island entrance towards Lekki.

In South Africa, the Constitutional Court of South Africa has not yet made judgement on whether it will overturn the injunction preventing the implementation of e-tolling, as requested by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) [TWA]. As in Lagos, Nigeria, where the Lekki-Eti-Osa-Epe residents Association spearheaded the opposition to the Lekki e-tolling project,  an advocacy group, Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance [OUTA], is the albatross overhanging the Gauteng Freeway Project.

Why these objections? Primarily, money. The government has not got the money in the treasury to finance these large scale projects. And as economic opportunity opens up new frontiers, the state needs to prioritise allocation of revenues for social development such as education and capacity enlargement. That is the official line. The opposition alleges unfairness. They cry of lack of consultation, as in Lagos, where residents accuse the government of political cronyism in favour of the leadership of the ruling political party. There are also allegations, perhaps, with some merit, that the provision of alternative route to the toll road was not aligned to the time for commencement of e-tolling.

The issue of road tolling or e-tolling is one that's not going to go away. It will continue to feature in the considerations for funding large scale transport projects. The arguments that will endure will be about negotiations and consultations prior to project decisions. It will also be about transparency and due diligence to avoid undue politicization of a progressive financing model. Another point worth noting is that decision makers must take long-term views of their options. For instance, a Light Rail system would have been, in the long term, a better option in the Lekki-Ajah-Epe Axis. The amount of money spent in less than a year on mitigating the loss of toll revenues due to court injunction - 4 billion Naira [$25m] indicates that the road expansion was a less financially sound option. This discussion will be the subject of a separate blog.

It is my hope that governments will be bold to proffer sound investment options for transport in Africa. The key is multifaceted consultation with a clear public agenda free from hidden entanglements. 

In truth though, there is no doubt that tolling and private financing of transport projects Africa is a model that has come to stay.