NATIONAL ROAD FUND AGENCY

                                                                                  FACT SHEET

1.0 Introduction

The National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) formerly known as National Roads Board was established by Act No. 13 of 2002. The Agency’s Vision, Mission, Goal and Values are as follows:

VISION

A Good and Safe Road Network.

MISSION

To mobilise, manage and administer financial resources for developing and maintaining quality and safe road infrastructure and road transport services.

GOAL

The NRFA will ensure efficient and effective provision of adequate financial resources for developing and maintaining quality and safe roads and transport services in Zambia.

VALUES

 2.0 Functions

The main function of the NRFA is to manage and administer the Road Fund. The NRFA has additional responsibilities to co-ordinate and manage various donor financed programmes. Amongst these additional responsibilities is that of management of the ten-year Road Sector Investment Programme (ROADSIP) which is the NFRA’s most ambitious programme estimated at a cost of US$1.6 billion from 2004 - 2013.

The functions of the National Road Fund Agency under the Road Fund Act No. 13 of 2002 include the following: -

1. i)         for the construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of roads based on a percentage of the annual work Plan of the Road Development Agency (RDA);
2. ii)         for road transport, traffic and safety management based on a percentage of the annual work Plan of the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA);
3. in consultation with the RDA, recommend funding for development of new roads; and
4. Undertake such other activities as are conducive or incidental to its functions.

3.0      Organisation Operations Procedures

The Agency operates on a lean structure of 18 staff with four departments namely, Fund Management, Corporate Support, Internal Audit, and Monitoring and Evaluation. Agency operations are guided by the core values of transparency, accountability, customer satisfaction, integrity, impartiality, professionalism and zero tolerance to corruption. As a financing agency, the NRFA has put computerized systems in place to ensure efficient and fraud free management of the road fund.

In keeping up with its core values of service ethics and customer satisfaction the NRFA, working together with its sister agencies, the RDA and the RTSA have come up with a working document that provides the most practical and effective way to ensure that contractors and service providers are paid on time and within the contractual requirement.

In accordance with the provisions of the current standard contracts, contractors and supervising consultants are required to be paid within 28 calendar days from the date the Project Manager certifies the works. In the case of other service providers the payment period will vary depending on the specific provisions of the contracts.

The stages involved in the processing of payments and the proposed time allocated for each stage to ensure that contractors or service providers are paid on time has been agreed upon among the three agencies.

The working document stipulates that in order not to exceed the 28 calendar days, the RDA would not take more than 19 calendar days to certify a certificate and the NRFA would not take more than 09 calendar days to process payments.

In the case of contracts entered into by the RTSA, the RTSA would not take more than 07 days to certify a payment and the NRFA would not take more than 11 days to verify and make payments.

The three agencies are fully accountable for the achievement of these agreed key performance indicators that are allocated for the processing of paying certificates.

To further cut down on payment time, the NRFA has since commenced the payment of certificates to contractors and consultants through direct transfers into bank accounts of the service providers rather than through cheques which take long to clear.

This method of paying service providers will go a long way in the NRFA’s endeavor to ensure that service providers receive their money on time.

In addition to a working document between the RDA and the RTSA Chief Executive Officers of the three agencies do communicate to each other on a regular basis. Furthermore, they have monthly meetings through the committee of chairpersons at which operational issues are discussed and minutes taken. They also sit on each other’s Board. The three Chairpersons (NRFA, RTSA and RDA) also meet quarterly to look at policy matters.

Furthermore, operational issues are discussed on monthly basis through the ROADSIP steering committee which is chaired by the Ministry of Communication and Transport. At Policy level, issues are discussed through the committee of Permanent Secretaries on the Road Management Initiative (RMI) and subsequently through the Committee of Ministers on RMI as shown in the chart below:

4.0 Linkage with Other Agencies

5.0      Sources of Funds

Sources of funds are specified in the Road Fund Act No. 13 of 2002 under section 18(1) and (2). These sources of funds for the Road Fund are both internal and external. Fuel Levy, Government allocations, Other Road User Charges such as weighbridge fines, road tax and international transit fees constitute the locally generated funding to the road sector.  Externally, the Agency receives funding from the following Cooperating partners:

        9.   JAPAN/ Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

6.0      How to Access Funds

The Road Fund is dedicated to maintenance of roads in good and fair condition.  In order to access the road fund for maintenance of a road, the implementing Agency has to include such projects and related activities in the Annual Work Plan. If a road project is not included in the programme, it will not be funded.

Access of funds takes a bottom up approach. Implementing Agencies submit draft budgets in July of each year which are consolidated by the NRFA in line with the available budget. Once the consolidation has been done, implementing Agencies are asked for further comments. After the budget has been agreed by all stakeholders, it is forwarded to the Ministry of Finance and National Planning (MoFNP) for incorporation in the national budget.

Budget ceilings are given by the MoFNP through the Mid Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) every year. Cash flow 3-year projects should also be provided to the NRFA by the implementing Agencies so that proper planning is done for service providers to be paid promptly.

7.0      Flow of Funds

 8.0      Prioritisation of projects

Prioritisation of road projects to be considered for funding, and later on road works  takes a bottom up approach where the local authorities (who have since been appointed as road authorities) in liaison with the RDA identify the roads to be worked on in their localities. These road projects are later on compiled in the Annual work Plan. Works are only paid for after they have been certified by both the consultants and the clients. It should be made clear that NRFA is not a party to contracts as procurement, awarding of contracts and supervision are done by implementing Agencies.

The NRFA has always recommended that concentration be made on few major roads which have an impact on the economy as opposed to spreading resources thinly on the ground. Priority is given first to on-going projects as opposed to commissioning new ones as shown in the table below:

9.0      Systems

The NRFA has put in place various systems to ensure efficiency and effective delivery of services. The following systems and manuals are in use:

9.1      Sun v computerized system

9.2      Financial Procurement manual

9.3      Board Charter

9.4      Strategic and Business Plans

9.5.     Code of Ethics

9.6      Whistle Blower Policy

9.7      Administration Manual

9.8      Communication Strategy Manual

9.9      Projects Tracking System

9.10   Risk Management Policy

9.11   Investment Policy

9.12   Terms of Reference for various committees of the Board

9.13   Ground rules for Board and Committee meetings