The government of Ghana has decided to reinstate the toll booths it once closed down from operating in the year, 2021.
The government has realized that even the meager amount it generated in terms of revenue, from the collection of tolls is enough to play a supportive role to the construction of a few roads in the country and take off a little burden off the government. That is why it has now decided to reinstate the toll booths and its toll collection.
Road tolls are only helpful when there is a laid down procedure, where funds collected at the various tolls are immediately put together daily or weekly and then put to use, through the repairing of old and construction of new roads. Road tolls are deemed helpful if proof of its usage is also made available to the public; accountability is key. When details of toll tickets are televised or published, it prevents toll collectors from mixing self-printed tickets with authentic tickets, so as not to allow dipping hands of toll funds.
In the same manner, road tolls are not helpful when there is always traffic due to its collection, hawkers selling around toll booths by putting themselves in harms way and also making the surroundings dirty. Hawkers are easily knocked over by speeding vehicles and it will cause a loss of life.
Road tollbooths in Ghana are a revenue generating business that enable government reduce arrears, clear maintenance backlog and stabilize the condition of road network. The expectant question that almost every Ghanaian keeps asking is that: are the revenues generated from the roads being used correctly or are being spent by the road toll collectors or the government, for their personal use?
It can be assumed that if the road tolls collected are used for their intended purposes, such as road construction and maintenance of these roads, then the roads that have been abandoned and others that are being done, lack enthusiasm.
Altogether, it is expected that new tolls and vehicle user fees will result in additional annual increases of not less than GHC70 million, to the road fund. This will help the government reduce arrears, clear maintenance backlog and stabilize the condition of road network.
Finance Minister of Ghana, Ken Ofori-Atta announced the elimination of toll booths on all public roads and bridges in 2021. According to him, the inconveniences caused by traffic jams at tolling points also leads to pollution in and around vicinities where these toll booths are situated. The government’s decision to stop collecting road tolls prior to the passage of the 2022 Budget, according to Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, has become a threat to the government’s revenue-generating efforts. As such, there is need to reopen the toll booths for collection. As a result, government upon realizing that ‘little drops of water, makes a mighty ocean’, it has decided to reinstate toll collection.
“The challenge really is that we passed the appropriation very quickly because there was an absolute belief in the direction that we were going, and then the politics came to stall the issue of the revenue measure, which is the E-levy, and therefore, the issue of the tolls being disbanded, having become a chain around our necks.
“Our roads need fixing. Our roads are being fixed. It is true that more roads have been fixed and are being fixed over the last five years than any relative period in the entire history of our nation. We even want to do a lot more and this budget will cater for this. That is why for decades, Government after Government imposed and maintained tolls on some public roads to raise funds for road construction and maintenance.”
Ken Ofori-Atta
Concerns Raised By Hawkers
Traders around toll booths all over country, complained how the closure of the toll booths affected their day to day activities. This is because since vehicles do not pay tolls any more, the tendency of having a car slow down at the booth to purchase an item from hawkers, is very low.
Unfortunately, the directive, according to some traders who sold along the toll booth had negatively impacted their businesses. Some of the traders revealed that they took a loan to buy their goods in bulk to sell because of the then festive seasons, in order to make profit.
According to them, the closure of the toll booths had an effect on their daily sales and suggested to Government to rescind its decision, to enhance their businesses. They begged government as a matter of urgency, to look into the issue before lenders came chasing them for defaulting in payment.
Others have however asked that since government would want to reintroduce the toll booth collection, it should scrap away the E-levy because both revenue generative policies cannot be paid by the normal Ghanaian. As such, it is either the E-levy is maintained alone or it is scrapped to enable the new prices attached to the toll collection, work efficiently.
The tollbooth collection for the generation of revenue is very useful as long as government makes sure monies collected are used for its intended purpose and not absorbed in the pockets of people. Thus, the government should make provision by allowing security personnel ensure that collectors are issuing the right tickets and not pocketing the money and also checking drivers to see whether they are having tickets or not.
Other than that, the government will lose as much as it was losing then, into peoples pockets. The government must also make sure that the revenues generated are used for the completion of all roads to enable people pay tolls willingly.
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