The General Secretary of Ghana Road Transport Co-ordinating Council (GTRCC), Mr Ohene Yeboah has appealed to government not to increase the road toll as proposed earlier.
The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah proposed an upward review of Ghana’s road toll rate to finance major roads in the country.
Mr Amoako Atta made the statement when he was being vetted last Tuesday by the Appointments Committee of Parliament.
This was in response to a question posed by Member of Parliament for Asawase, Muntaka Mubarak on how to innovatively address the issue of funding of major roads in Ghana.
He stated, “At the moment, Ghana pays the lowest rate in the whole world…If you want to go the B.O.T. (Build Operate Transfer) or BOOT (Build Own Operate Transfer) way as we see in other parts of the world, the research that has been done by my ministry on the average toll rate is around $1. But here people pay 50p for toll rate.”
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Speaking on Atinka TV‘s morning show, Ghana Nie with Ekourba Gyasi Simpremu, Mr Ohene Yeboah said if the toll rate is increased, it will affect transport fares and the entire transport business.
“We should not increase it because the taxes on vehicle parts are more. When it is increased, we will be forced to increase transport fares and the hardship in the country will increase. If there are other measures, they can put in place, they should do it instead of increasing the toll rate,” he said.
Mr Ohene Yeboah identified that most people who do not go to areas beyond toll booth, saying the payment of the toll is discriminatory.
According to him, as at 2020, about 2.8 million cars had been registered but the toll generated only about GHS70,000,000 for last year.
The figure, he said way smaller than expected considering the number of cars that have been registered in the country.
Meanwhile, Mr Ohene Yeboah said everyone who uses vehicles must pay road toll so that enough money can be generated to develop the roads.
He also urged the government to ensure that monies generated from road tolls are used to develop the roads.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
Writer’s email: [email protected]
