Head of Regulation and Inspection at National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Kwame Koduah Atuahene, has intimated that further clarification needs to be sought on the conversion of tollbooths to washrooms.
This clarification, he stated, will enable the NRSA understand the context of the proposal in order to subject it to thorough assessment. As such, he revealed that his outfit will seek clarification from the office of the Minister for Roads and Highways.
“We have to seek further clarity from the Ministry to try to appreciate the context of this proposal. Otherwise, on the face of it, I think this may pose concerns for pedestrians. These are tollbooths turned washrooms which they find in the middle of the highway.”
Kwame Koduah Atuahene
Mr. Koduah Atuahene explained that the highways are designed for a certain speed characteristics with vehicles travelling between 80 to 100 kilometers per hour. Hence, it will pose safety risks if motorists have to use these tollbooth turned washrooms.
“If I have to park my vehicle and cross the road to accommodate vehicles traveling 80 to 100 KM per hour then of course, there is a source of concern.”
Kwame Koduah Atuahene
According to Mr. Atuahene, should the move come to pass, the Ghana Highway Authority intends to re-engineer these sections of the road to break the speed of motorist way ahead of these facilities. This, he indicated, will remedy the threats these washrooms will pose in some regard.
“So, we are picking the signals from the media, we intend to follow-up at the Ministry to understand the context and what their plans are. We will subject the plans to some safety impact assessment and if we see strongly that it may not serve public interest or public good, we are certain that we will deliver our advice or recommendations in accordance with the Act.”
Kwame Koduah Atuahene
Tollbooth to washrooms
The Minister for Roads and Highways, Mr. Amoako-Attah had disclosed that tollbooths across the country would be used to serve another public purpose since the collection of road tolls has been abolished by the government. Mr. Amoako-Attah revealed the tollbooth will be used for public urinals.
“We even want to refurbish all tollbooth structures to provide proper and decent washrooms for the use by motorists so we advised them to desist from that practice where sometimes you see cars stopping on the highway and people getting down to wee-wee as we usually see.”
Mr. Amoako-Attah
The announcement which received some form of backlash has been clarified by the ministry. The Ministry of Roads and Highways dismissed reports suggesting it had definite plans to convert tollbooths into lavatories.
The Head of Public Relations for the ministry, Nasir Ahmad Yartey, explained that the idea was still under consideration, alongside many other proposals.
“There are several proposals as to what becomes of the tollbooths. One of such proposals was to see whether they could be converted, so it is not a categorical statement that any tollbooth will be turned into a urinal.
“And so, the minister was trying to say that there are several uses [to which] we can put these tollbooths. And so that was just one option on the table: it is not the final decision. And so it wasn’t a categorical statement”.
Nasir Ahmad Yartey
