RFA proposes road tax for electric vehicles

The Road Fund Administration of Namibia (RFA) has expressed concern at the planned roll-out of charging stations for electric vehicles, and said policymakers need to look at mechanisms to derive revenue from the nascent industry.

RFA CEO Ali Ipinge made the remarks at a recent benchmarking visit undertaken by Sierra Leone’s transport minister, Denis Sandy.

Sandy and a delegation from Sierra Leone paid a visit to Namibia last week to conduct a benchmarking exercise into Namibia’s road infrastructure, which has been highly rated by the Wold Economic Forum as the best on the African continent.

Ipinge said it was only a matter of time before the roll-out of electric vehicles would take hold in Africa, and the lack of policy would in future present a revenue dilemma.

“It’s only a matter of time before Namibia and the African continent start to see the introduction of more electric vehicles, and we don’t have the policies in place in terms of regulating electric vehicles,” he said.

African countries would have to look at policy interventions to ensure electric vehicles do not place undue pressure on administrators such as the RFA and that those organisations do not lose out on the revenue gained from fuel levies, he said.

“We should be investigating and putting more effort to pursue how we can look at policy interventions, to prepare the African transport sector,” Ipinge said.

Sandy lauded Namibia’s road infrastructure, saying there were many lessons he would take back to implement in Sierra Leone, such as Namibia’s road management system, which is administered by the Roads Authority.