The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has announced that government will abolish tolls on all public roads and bridges in the country from January, 2022.
The finance minister presenting the 2022 budget statement and economic policy before Parliament stated that the tolls have been removed due to inconveniences caused by the toll booths. He indicated that the government has observed that the toll booths are doing more harm than good.
According to the finance minister,;this decision was also arrived at due to the toll booths causing heavy traffic and impacting negatively on productivity.
“To address these challenges,;the government has abolished all tolls on public roads and bridges. This takes effect immediately after the budget is approved”.
Ken Ofori-Atta
Persons manning toll booths to be reassigned
According to the Finance Minister, government will assign persons manning the various toll booths somewhere else. Ken Ofori-Atta in presenting the budget noted that although;the tolls were helping in fixing and maintaining roads, the benefits of not having them currently outweighs their purpose. Also,
“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”.
Ken Ofori-Atta
Ken Ofori-Atta averred government wants to do a lot more with regards to road infrastructure and the 2022 budget will cater for that. He explained that it is for this reason that for decades Government;after Government imposed and maintained tolls on some public roads to raise funds for road construction and maintenance. He added that this is the situation in many countries. Also
Tolling points create unpleasant situations
Although the tolling system has played a crucial role in funding the expansion of Ghana’s road infrastructure, Ken Ofori-Atta noted that tolling points create unpleasant situations. To address these challenges, he said that,;it is necessary for the government to take a decision against the setup of tolling points.
“Over the years,;the tolling points have become unhealthy market centres, led to heavy traffic on our roads, lengthened travel time from one place to another. The congestion generated at the tolling points,;besides creating these inconveniences, also leads to pollution in and around those vicinities”.
Ken Ofori-Atta
The expected impact on productivity and reduced environmental pollution, he stated, will more than off-set the revenue forgone by removing the tolls.
The finance minister said, government will use;“a portion of the proceeds from the E-Levy to support entrepreneurship, youth employment, cyber security, digital and road infrastructure among others”.
This goes on to confirm an earlier assertion by the Minister of Information,;Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, that there is going to be some relief for road vehicle users while at the same time equitably raising revenues to speed up the fixing of our roads. The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) moreover,;had earlier called on the government to review the payment of road tolls in the country. Also
