Imported fuel not connected to road conditions

I am writing in response to an article titled, “Authority to earn revenue” (The National, Nov 15).
The first sentence read, “The National Roads Authority will now earn revenue from the 4t of the imported diesel exercise component to assist in its operations as gazette by the government, according to reports”.
It further stated that NRA is currently charging 4t on local diesel exercise component which with inclusion of four toea on imported diesel exercise component will increase to eight toea in total.
Furthermore, there is no logic in charging 8t on local and imported diesel exercise component with respect to NRA’s operations in maintaining the national roads in PNG.
The “wear and tear” of national roads has nothing to do with local and imported diesel exercise component.
This is caused by usage of the national roads by vehicles, among other factors.
This charge should be charged on registration of cars that are using the road. There is no logic in all this gazetted rates.
One would argue that diesel is an important source of energy which make more than 30 per cent of PNG Power electricity generation.
This four toea charge on imported diesel by Puma Energy or Mobil may pass on to PNG Power costs. This cost will then pass on to electricity customers.
The 4t charge is irrelevant and only adds to costs by other industries and its customers. NRA should be smart and not just creating a joke for the government to approve.
The best suggestion is to have the fee as a variable in the calculation of registration of vehicles annually in PNG.
This is because vehicles are one of the factors that contribute to ‘wear and tear’ on our roads, among other factors.

Economist, Via email