MBABANE – Consumers are to shoulder the burden of higher costs in public transport even though the Roads Authority has collected E1.3 billion in nine months.
The Roads Authority is an entity that was established last year to be responsible for the maintenance of public roads and it is funded by the fuel levy.
The fuel levy came into effect on April 1, 2025, at 40 cents per litre.
Public transport operators last week extended a plea to government that the fuel levy should be suspended pending the ongoing tensions in the Gulf Region.
It is worth noting that as of March 1, 2025, the Roads Authority Act of 2023 approved E0.40 to be added to the fuel price to be able to fund the operations of the Road Agency Fund so that maintenance of the national, regional and local road infrastructure can be better executed.
Also, taxes that play a role in the consumer price include the fuel levy remitted to the Sincephetelo Motor Vehicle Accidents Fund (SMVAF) at 42 cents per litre, Eswatini National Oil Company (ENPC) levy of 35 cents per litre, the fuel oil levy at 50 cents per litre and the fuel tax E3.85.
In total, the taxes amount to E5.52 per litre.
Despite the collection of the roads levy, several public transport operators and motorists have raised concerns of the challenges they experience on the national road network.
One of the roads riddled by potholes is the Motshane-Pigg’s Peak Road, also known as King Mswati II Highway or MR1, which passes through Pigg’s Peak to Matsamo.
The road, which has recently seen segments of it that featured wide potholes being removed in preparation for being refurbished, has motorists raising concerns that it had been neglected for a lengthy period.
On Friday, a pothole measuring 51 centimetres in length, 27 centimetres in width and 13 centimetres in depth was discovered along the stretch closer to Nkomazi.
Long stretches of the road have previously been resurfaced, but the median features numerous potholes, creating a dangerous environment for motorists.
It is pertinent to highlight that road works are ongoing along the freeway at various points.
Motorists said, despite that King Mswati II’s width is no longer in line with the size of the vehicles and forces motorists to drive on its edges, there was a lengthy stretch which was still riddled with potholes.
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