Gov't bringing back road tolls in 2024

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, has disclosed that road tolls are likely to be reintroduced in 2024.

He made this statement during the consideration of the 2024 budget statement and economic policy in Parliament earlier on Friday

The government canceled road toll collections in 2021 after introducing the e-levy, which has failed to meet its revenue target.

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The minister also called for a national dialogue on how to finance road construction in the country.

Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, supported the decision to bring back the road tolls. He however emphasized that the tolls should be digitalised to prevent losses to the state.

“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 the World Bank or free money from anywhere, so let’s have a debate on how we fund our roads internally,” he said.

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. Over 70% of tolls collected ended up in the wrong hands. I hold the view that this reintroduction of the road tolls… should come with a digitalized solution to sustain it so that the human interface will be minimized if not to be eradicated,” he said.

Minority Chief Whip, Kwame Agbodza, welcomed the minister’s comment and said the suspension of the tolls was a hasty decision.

The tolls, he said, could have generated enough money to pay small and medium contractors who were maintaining the roads.

“I think the minister has done the right thing. I will maintain that the suspension was in haste. By the time we suspended it, we were getting 78 million.”

“Mr. Speaker 78 million can pay SMCs, small and 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,” he said.

Meanwhile, Parliament has approved ₵4.6 billion for the ministry’s services for next year.