The Minister of Roads and Highways has disputed assertions that road tolls have been abolished by the government.
According to the minister, the legislation backing the collection of tolls on public roads remains active despite a decision by the government to cease toll collection in November 2021.
"Tolls have not been cancelled or abolished. The law is still there," the minister said in a media engagement.
The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, in November 2022, explained to parliament that the decision to cease toll collection was to help manage congestion on some public roads.
The minister for roads subsequently issued a directive announcing the cessation of toll collection.
However, the finance minister, exactly a year later, has announced that the government will reintroduce toll collection on selected roads in 2023.
"The fiscal policy measures to underpin the 2023 Budget for consideration and approval by Parliament include the reintroduction of tolls on selected public roads and highways with a renewed focus on leveraging technology in the collection to address the inefficiencies characterized by the previous toll collection regime," paragraph 462 of the 2023 Budget statement reads.
Speaking on the reintroduction of tolls, the roads minister has hinted that toll rates will likely go up starting in 2023.
"We were paying the lowest toll in the whole world while we wanted excellent and good roads. If we want good roads, then we must be prepared to pay more. We will no longer be paying the fifty pesewas and one cedi. Tolls are even more expensive abroad," he said.
Source: ghanaweb.com
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Hahahaaaa, this man paaaaa, i heard he's a lawyer. So if the is a law on payment of road tolls still standing in Ghana's law books ,why are drivers not paying road tolls of late, will you then say drivers in Ghana are flouting the law ? No driver in Ghana went on any demonstration against the payment of road tolls, infact if there is any levy Ghanaians pay happily it's road tolls, all of a sudden you wake up one day to suspend payment of this all important toll which cannot be avoided once you drive on Ghana's roads and now rely on a levy which can be avoided legally i.e. E-levy, now that the E-levy seems to have failed you are now saying road tolls have not been abolished, can you imagine this? If i don't send money electronically i don't pay E-levy, it's that simple. Is it not same government that says little drops of taxes make a mighty nation, if monies generated from road tolls are not enough, at least drivers are paying so why can't you accumulate those little monies for a period to do something with it on our roads. Can the finance minister wake up one morning to tell Ghanaians not to pay taxes again because what is being paid is not enough to undertake any big projects, can he? This roads minister would have asked taxpayers to cease paying taxes if he were the finance minister until he finds ways to ensure that nobody can escape paying taxes in Ghana, until that way is found, Ghana is tax free. You just can't understand what goes into the thinking of some politicians when they are coming out with directives.Anyway that's Ghana for you. We are silently watching.
Dis man paaa. Hmm