The Minister of Public Works, João Machatine, considers the collection of tolls on the Maputo ring road to be "unavoidable" since it will guarantee the maintenance of the road.

"This issue of tolls is unavoidable, because we have no way of guaranteeing the maintenance of this infrastructure," he said at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting.

Despite the various protests, Machatine, quoted by Lusa, said that "thousands of people have already become dependent on the ring road," in an allusion to the expansion of Maputo's suburbs.

"We are concerned with ensuring the longevity of this road so that these people will continue to get around," he pointed out.

The governor also wanted to clear doubts about Rede Viária de Moçambique (REVIMO), the concessionary company that will operate the tolls: it started out as 100% owned by the Road Fund, until it was listed on the domestic stock exchange and attracted two institutional investors.

According to the Public Works Minister's explanation, the sustainable toll calculation model even indicated prices above those that will be applied.

"Given the social model, we have put forward mitigation and discounting measures," Machatine added.

Meanwhile, the governor also said that the tolls will create 550 jobs.