The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, has hinted that road tolls are likely to be reintroduced in 2024.
He made the revelation during the consideration of the 2024 budget statement and economic policy in Parliament today, December 15,2023.
Government canceled road toll collections in 2021 after introducing the e-levy which has failed to live up to its promise.
The ministry also says there must be a national dialogue on financing road construction, reports Joy News.
Reacting to the minister’s comment, Minority Chief Whip Kwame Agbodza noted that the reintroduction of the tolls and the minister’s call for national dialogue on road financing was welcome news.
“I think the minister has done the right thing. I will maintain that the suspension was in a haste. By the time we suspended it we were getting 78 million. Mr. Speaker 78 million can pay SMCs, small medium contractors who were weeding the roadside because today we can’t pay them. So I welcome the bold decision by the minister to reintroduce the debate on road tolls as well.
“The minister is proposing for a national dialogue on road financing. Mr. Speaker I think that is the appropriate thing to do. Let us all have a conversation on how we fund our roads. We can never have enough loans from World Bank or free money from anywhere, so let’s have a debate on how we fund our roads internally,” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, says the decision to reintroduce the road tolls are in the right direction.
He however stressed that when the tolls are reintroduced they should come in a digitalised form to avoid losses to the state.
“Mr. Speaker, at the time we were receiving almost about, just a little over 70 million. That over 70% of tolls collected ended up in wrong hands. I hold the view that this reintroduction of the road tolls… should come with a digitalised solution to sustain it so that the human interface will be minimized if not to be eradicated,” he said.
Parliament has approved ₵4.6 billion for the ministry’s services for next year.
Source: Myxyzonline.com
