Toll roads: inspiration from China

Toll roads are in the offing. The government has finally realized that it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness. The idea of introducing toll roads has been circulating in relevant government quarters for some time now. This has come after the realization that public coffers alone cannot sustain the soaring demand for more roads. Whereas China has played a significant role in financing and improving the road network in the country, lessons abound on how to effective bridge the budget deficit through public private partnerships.

The government has already announced that Kenyans will soon start paying for use of major roads in major towns and highways through toll charges to finance construction and repair of new roads. Users of the Thika superhighway were supposed to be the first to pay toll fees but the implementation has been postponed. Other projects set to be funded by tolling include a second bridge at Nyali in Mombasa and the building of a dual carriage superhighway between Mombasa through Nairobi and to Nakuru.

The pay for use arrangement involves investors who put their money in infrastructural projects and recoup their money by charging users market price rate fees over time. This arrangement is effective because it allows the government to meet its infrastructural obligations that it would otherwise have not afforded in a short period of time without debt.

A recent Africa infrastructure report indicated the huge infrastructure budget deficit Kenya faces. Kenya requires approximately over Sh320 billion per year over the next decade to address the deficit. This deficit can only be met by an efficient toll authority that will not only construct and maintain the roads, but regulate traffic efficiently in major towns.

Although many people view toll charges as double taxation from government, there are many benefits that come with toll road charges that not many people notice. “We have to embrace tolling. Look how far it has taken China and India,” Transport secretary Michael Kamau averred.

China is a global leader and a great example of a country that has used toll roads to fund its massive national road network in a very short time. It does indeed have about 70 percent of the world’s total length of tolled roads. No other country has built an Expressway network of such scale in such a short period of time in history.

The establishment of China’s National Trunk Highway System in 1991 was the beginning of road infrastructure miracle in China. Investments were made to construct an Expressway network of nearly 85,000 km, a Class-I highway of 68,000 km, and Class-II highway of 320,000 km. Road tolls were used to help contribute to and to recover all financing costs.

The use of toll roads to finance road infrastructure is increasingly being used in countries whose highway capital and operating expenditure requirements outstrip public resources to pay for them. This is true for countries such as Brazil, India, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and many others. In the United States, more than 4,000kms of the Interstate Highway system are tolled.

As a country that has greatly benefited from improved road infrastructure from China, Kenya needs to continuously consider the new standards set and emulate the blueprint that China has laid for us. The Asian giant has made considerable contributions in our roads infrastructure over the recent past, but we cannot expect China to take over the government’s infrastructure obligations.

Many economists and transportation experts see toll roads as the inevitable solution to our road transportation problems and predict a lot of benefits if implemented. They argue that apart from financing the projects, it will improve efficiency in managing both existing and future infrastructure projects. If congestion rises, prices rise and that signals the need for expansion and ensuring that the road facility meets the demand.

Secondly, toll roads increase fuel economy. By increasing the overall capacity of a region’s road network system, toll roads are able to absorb some of the excess traffic that would otherwise have contributed to traffic congestion on non-tolled roads. This enables vehicles to move at more fuel efficient speeds at both toll and non-tolled roads. Moreover, the accident rate on toll roads is lower than other roads, because the flow of traffic is more even.

Toll roads also reduce urban sprawl by balancing the cost of using a road. Traffic congestion is the direct result of under-pricing of roads. The pay to use arrangement depending on market demand would give less incentive to drivers to use busy roads, or live in congested areas and would resort to use either public transportation, or move to areas closer to work or where they travel most.

It is time to embrace toll roads and the government cannot effort to be left behind in this re-emerging strategy of financing road infrastrure. China has proved that this strategy is efficient and workable and the results are there for all and sundry to see.