As an Agency tasked to mobilise resources and provide strategic financial oversight to the road sector, the National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) sees funding gaps as one of the issues that inhibit infrastructure investment from reaching its full potential.
Therefore, in trying to come up with solutions to solve financial gaps in a sometimes imbalanced equation of resource envelop against fast growing road infrastructure demands as well as other competing demands, the Agency has realised the need to draw on the strengths of various stakeholders and while expanding on created synergies of cooperation.
One such partner is the Bank of Zambia, an institution vested with the mandate to formulating and implementing monetary policy and supervisory policies that will ensure the maintenance of price and financial system stability so as to promote balanced macro-economic development
NRFA Director/ CEO Eng. Wallece Mumba during a courtesy call on Bank of Zambia Governor, Dr Denny, noted that the Agency was vested in strengthening key linkages with institutions such as BoZ so as to exchange notes on various issues that concern the growth of the road sector.
“We believe that strategic links and partnerships with institutions such as yours will create opportunities for us to learn from each other and share information that will help in the growth of the sector as we look at ways of further growing our resource envelope by finding innovative ways of mobilising resources in order to have a balance between our current resource envelop and our outstanding projects and activities,” he said.
And BoZ Governor Dr. Kalyalya said it was interesting to learn that the NRFA had grown from an Agency that handled a budget of about K800 million in its formative years to a budget of about K8.6 billion over the last few years.
Dr Kalayalya said the visit was timely as it served as a catalytic role in highlighting certain issues concerning the Agency thus addressing revenue and expenditure and how the Agency can strike a balance between the two.