Road levy arrears have fallen sharply, but the unpaid billions have already left Malawi’s roads paying the price.
The Roads Fund Administration (RFA) says the failure to remit road levies left it struggling to maintain roads, pay contractors and roll out plans for new tollgates.
The issue came to light on Thursday when the Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Corporations and State Enterprises questioned officials from the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA), Roads Authority (RA) and RFA.
RFA told the committee that non-remittance of road levies started in the year ending March 2022 and continued until December 2025.
The administration said the backlog weakened its ability to adequately fund road maintenance and settle payments to contractors.
It also affected plans to introduce new tollgates, adding another setback to efforts to raise money for the country’s road network.
MERA told the committee that more than K236 billion in road levies was remitted to RFA between January and October 2026.
However, the authority said the cumulative balance payable stood at about K203 billion.
MERA said the outstanding arrears had dropped to around K173 billion by September 2026, from nearly K248 billion recorded in December 2025.
Despite the reduction, the committee warned that the impact of delayed payments had already been felt on the country’s roads.
The committee expressed concern that failure to remit the levies contributed to the deterioration of road infrastructure.
It warned that the situation should not be allowed to happen again, given the importance of road levies in funding maintenance and development.
The committee has also called for greater transparency in financial reporting and strict adherence to regulatory timelines.
It further wants sustainable funding mechanisms to ensure road levies reach the roads for which they are collected.
