Government has scrapped the payment of road tolls effective November 18
Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Senior Presidential Advisor, has justified government’s decision to abolish the paying of road tolls.
According to him, the move is expected to improve the movement of goods and services as well as reduce the heavy vehicular traffic on major roads across the country.
In an interaction with Citi Business News following the presentation of the 2022 Budget Statement, Osafo Maafo backed the zero-rating of tolls on all public roads and bridges.
“I believe that anybody who uses the roads in Ghana knows the hazards the road tolls cause in terms of delays. One of the greatest problems facing Greater Accra today is a traffic jam, and added to it are these tolls which really create traffic congestion, particularly for commercial travellers. And I think the amount of money realized for a year, through the total tolls in this country is GHC 78 million and it is not worth the hazard of time-wasting that is involved in the whole exercise.”
“So the best is for the government to improve its efficiency in collecting revenue and give that freedom for pedestrians to move smoothly. The current situation was creating havoc for people, so the government thought it wise to abolish tolls to allow for free movement of goods and services in the system,” he added.
Delivering the 2022 budget statement before Parliament on Wednesday, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, announced government's decision to abolish road tolls.
He explained that inasmuch as money is needed to fix deplorable roads in the country, the establishment of toll booths has also led to congestions at various toll points which primarily affected productivity negatively.
