Chief Executive Officer for Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry, Emmanuel Cherry has advised that the reintroduction of road tolls must be modernized to avoid the health hazards and traffic congestion associated with the old system.
Finance Minister Designate Dr, Cassiel Ato Forson during his vetting revealed that the new ruling government (National Democratic Congress) is committed to reintroducing road toll collection.
The formal government administration led by ex-president Akuffo Addo as part of the 2022 budget, announced their decision to abolish road tolls, replacing them with electronic transfer levy (E-Levy), which faced backlash from citizens but was still introduced.
Speaking on Starr Today with Tutuwaa Danso, Mr. Cherry argued that it was not in the best interest of the country for road tolls to be abolished, as Ghana is losing approximately 78 million cedis per month for road maintenance.
“The revenue that’s supposed to come into road maintenance of the entire country has been shortened. So, where do we get the funds needed to reconstruct, develop, or maintain our roads? So, the road toll was part of the avenues or revenues generated into the road fund,” he explained.
He added, “Now that it has been scrapped, we’re losing approximately 78 million Ghana cedis per month. It can do a lot for you and me.”
Mr. Cherry emphasized that any reintroduction of the road tolls must be modernized to avoid the health hazards and traffic congestion associated with the old system.
“They want to reintroduce it. It’s going to be a plus to the sector, but it must be introduced in a modern way, not the old usual way that will cause a lot of traffic and then a lot of health hazard implications. So, we have a modern way of collecting these particular things.”
