Road tolls are set to be increased early next year in a bid to boost revenues for the road fund, highly placed government officials have said.
Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Minister of Roads and Transport has observed that road tolls contribute 10% to the Road Fund, a percentage he says is inadequate.
“We are going to increase the tolls. As for the tolls we have even worked with the Ministry of Finance, and in due course you will hear that,”he disclosed.
The chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport, Theophilus Tetteh Chaie, has also signaled imminent hikes in road tolls, since the needed fund to undertake periodic maintenance is not being met.
“We are pretending to be paying tolls; and the money we need to do maintenance, we are not able to meet the schedule. We should review and make sure we do it in such a way that we get the needed funds to support maintenance,” he told the B&FT newspaper.
Also the decision to increase road tolls has received backing from the Association of Road Contractors (ASOROC), which has been pushing for an increase on the grounds that Ghana’s tolls are the lowest in the sub-region. Motorists in Togo pay about CF400 (about US$1or 100 cents).
Currently, the Road Fund has to go to Parliament for approval of toll increases.
Managers of the Fund, which is backed by an Act of Parliament, Act 537(1997), also want levies to be put on petroleum products or fuel to widen the funding sources of the Road Fund.
