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The Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament has approved the controversial road tow levy to begin operating from September 1, 2017.

Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Samuel Ayeh-Paye noted that the decision was arrived at after extensive consultations with stakeholders in the road and transport industry.

This follows the passage of a Legislative Instrument (LI) on the road tow levy.

“Our recommendation is that it is a very good project, we have looked at other stakeholders and in fact they don’t have the capacity to undertake this project . . . We have asked the operator as part of our recommendation to absorb other small towing trucks in the contract so that other private and small towing truck services will not be affected or have their businesses collapsed,” he said.

However, following the approval of the tow levy, drivers and the general public have registered their displeasure with the new directive.

Some drivers feel the authorities want to strangle them with the levy and are grieving over the inattention given to their pleas and demands by the road authorities.

Addressing the issue on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', the Central Regional Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Allotey Jacobs also expressed disappointment in the authorities for approving the levy.

According to him, the levy will overburden the drivers and so he would have the authorities to apportion some responsibility of payment of the levy to the insurance companies in the country.

He explained that some drivers have been complaining bitterly about the insurance premium and some challenges they encounter with the insurance companies, hence introducing the tow levy will compound their plight.

He therefore asked "why should you (Road Authority) burden vehicle owners when the insurance companies are there?"

He also questioned how the tow levy would work when there is no establishment of vantage points for towing vehicles to locate vehicles which break down on the roads.

To him, to make the directive efficient and encourage the vehicle owners to pay the levy; there should be centers across the country's districts to ensure broken down vehicles on any road are towed away to rid the nation of road accidents.