This development was announced during a media tour led by the Ministry of Roads and Infrastructure Development to inspect the ongoing rehabilitation of the Bulawayo to Victoria Falls road and other roads. At the Ntabazinduna Tollgate, the tour’s first stop, ZINARA and its technology partner InstaToll demonstrated the efficiency of the E-Tag system to journalists and officials. E-Tag was launched in December 2024, enabling cashless, automatic toll deductions from a prepaid or linked accounts, improving efficiency for motorists and operators.
The system uses the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, which is scanned by a reader mounted on the roof of the toll gate. If the vehicle’s prepayment is valid, the boom gate opens automatically unlike the previous manual operation operated by operators. ZINARA Board Chairperson, George Manyaya, said they are happy that the uptake has increased.
“We have opened these E-tags to everyone. As we continue, we initially had a tag for e-wallet, and now we are introducing a ZINARA e-wallet linked to ZimSwitch, which allows you to transact within that wallet. You can pay your licensing and have fees deducted automatically when you pass a tollgate.
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These are some of the innovations we are introducing as ZINARA,” Manyaya said. “What we are happy about is that the uptake has now increased. Remember, when it was first introduced, there was an outcry, with people saying it was only for Parliamentarians but its Parliamentarians who are urged to join.” Manyaya said companies, especially those who are into distribution have actually registered to the e-tag.
“We have private citizens that registered so the uptake is good, we have 30 000 cars that are part of the E-tags,” he said . InstaToll Tolling Operations Manager, George Mufuka, said the new solution has come after a surge in traffic over the past years. “We operate nine toll gates.
We are now operating a total of 58 lanes, and we have just added to the ones that we had in the past. So, this tollgate was the pioneer of all the tollgates that we have as InstaToll,” he said.
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