THE government will consider reducing the rates of road toll charged at the Kigamboni’s Mwalimu Nyerere Bridge instead of scrapping it completely, President Samia Suluhu Hassan has said.
She said the fees are being charged for the sake of servicing the loan that was spent on the construction of the infrastructure that came into effect in April 2016.
The bridge was constructed at a cost of 135 million US dollars (313.5bn/-) becoming the first of its kind in East Africa at the time.
The bridge which was thereafter christened Nyerere Bridge is a joint venture between the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and the government.
Speaking in Kigamboni on Friday, President Samia said the fees will continue to be charged to motorists as they use the bridge, since it was constructed by using funds that were secured on loan agreement.
“We can’t remove the charges completely, instead we can consider reducing it, the bridge was constructed through a loan that has to be refunded to creditor,” she said.
Her statement came in response to a request issued by the Kigamboni Member of Parliament Dr Faustine Ndugulile who asked the government to consider scrapping the road toll in a bid to reduce the cost of living for Kigamboni residents.
