Roads Authority yields to High Court red light

THE Roads Authority has accepted a High Court ruling which scraps mass distance charges for long-distance trucks that were introduced in June.

The Namibia Road Carriers’ Association (Namroad) challenged Government’s decision to introduce the charges on an urgent basis in June after a series of unsuccessful consultations with the Road Fund Administration and relevant Government departments to find a more reasonable method of collecting funds for the maintenance of roads. Namroad, supported by the Namibia Agricultural Union, applied to the High Court on an urgent basis on Monday a week ago, and Judge Kato van Niekerk ruled in Namroad’s favour, setting aside the Government notice.RA spokesperson Audrin Mathe said yesterday that the company had noted the decision and decided not to charge mass distance charges.Only licence fees would be charged, he said.”In cases where vehicle owners have already received licence-renewal notices, only the licence fee will be charged.Vehicle owners are therefore encouraged to scrutinise their renewal invoices and pay only for services other than the mass distance charges,” Mathe said.Namroad argued that although it supported the principle of heavy vehicles paying for the use of Namibia’s roads, the method of collecting such funds as introduced by the Road Fund Administration was “draconian and unreasonable”.Proposals by Namroad in collecting the same amount of money by using more appropriate instruments were ignored, the association said.”In short, the method of collection as introduced by the Road Fund Administration was nothing other than a massively increased licence fee for Namibian-registered heavy vehicles based on an assumed distance that heavy vehicles would travel in any given year,” Namroad argued.The fee was payable upfront upon the renewal of vehicle licences and would have earned Government an estimated N$100 million a year.Apart from the legal deficiencies of the system, the massive cash-flow impact on the owners of heavy vehicles was devastating, forcing many to borrow money to pay the upfront charge, Namroad claimed.Namroad said the system was flawed in that the owner of a heavy vehicle was allowed to claim back a proportionate refund of fees paid if he could prove at the end of the licence year that the relevant vehicle had not covered the distance assumed by the Road Fund Administration.Namroad, supported by the Namibia Agricultural Union, applied to the High Court on an urgent basis on Monday a week ago, and Judge Kato van Niekerk ruled in Namroad’s favour, setting aside the Government notice.RA spokesperson Audrin Mathe said yesterday that the company had noted the decision and decided not to charge mass distance charges.Only licence fees would be charged, he said.”In cases where vehicle owners have already received licence-renewal notices, only the licence fee will be charged.Vehicle owners are therefore encouraged to scrutinise their renewal invoices and pay only for services other than the mass distance charges,” Mathe said.Namroad argued that although it supported the principle of heavy vehicles paying for the use of Namibia’s roads, the method of collecting such funds as introduced by the Road Fund Administration was “draconian and unreasonable”.Proposals by Namroad in collecting the same amount of money by using more appropriate instruments were ignored, the association said.”In short, the method of collection as introduced by the Road Fund Administration was nothing other than a massively increased licence fee for Namibian-registered heavy vehicles based on an assumed distance that heavy vehicles would travel in any given year,” Namroad argued.The fee was payable upfront upon the renewal of vehicle licences and would have earned Government an estimated N$100 million a year.Apart from the legal deficiencies of the system, the massive cash-flow impact on the owners of heavy vehicles was devastating, forcing many to borrow money to pay the upfront charge, Namroad claimed.Namroad said the system was flawed in that the owner of a heavy vehicle was allowed to claim back a proportionate refund of fees paid if he could prove at the end of the licence year that the relevant vehicle had not covered the distance assumed by the Road Fund Administration.