Despite the government’s aim to remove road tolls in the yet-to-be-approved 2022 budget, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu has warned that the country will revive them in the near future.
On Joy News’ PM Express on Monday, November 22, 2021, the legislator stated that many countries around the world rely on tolls to support road construction projects.
Haruna Iddrisu, speaking on the e-levy discussion, said that instead of introducing the electronic transaction levy, the government should have increased road tolls as specified in the 2021 budget.
“You can increase it by double it. In its 2021 budget, the New Patriotic Party promised to raise road tolls only to backtrack this year, claiming that they will not do so since they will be depending on the electronic levy. But I’m still on tolls…as a country, let’s get serious.
Road tolls will be reinstated in Ghana…mark it…in the not-too-distant future, in my opinion. You can’t possibly be referring to road duplication… You want to travel between Accra and Kumasi, Accra and the Cape Coast, Tamale and Bolga, or Tamale and Wa… Tolls will be supported everywhere in the world, particularly where the government has implemented legislation known as the public-private partnership.
How can you recuperate your money if you decide to invest in the road sector, especially in current troubled economy? You’ll have to rely on tolls to go around. “What the Ghanaian people want is for the money to be used properly,” he added.
At the introduction of the 2022 budget statement, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta declared the government’s decision to dismantle highways beginning next year, if the budget is approved.
However, following the presentation, the Roads and Highways Ministry published a statement saying that the collection of roll tolls will cease immediately on Thursday, November 18, 2021.
