Vice President Bawumia has reignited the contentious topic of road tolls within the nation. The government had previously suspended road tolls nationwide due to significant public outcry regarding unnecessary traffic delays experienced by road users.
This matter sparked a debate regarding the wisdom of the decision, particularly in light of the revenue generated for the government, but the discussion eventually subsided after several weeks of deliberation.
However, Dr. Bawumia, the presidential candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), believes that this issue warrants a comprehensive examination and should be prioritized, despite its contentious nature.
During the launch of the Ghana Highway Authority’s (GHA) 50th-anniversary celebration in Accra, themed “Closing the Financing Gap in Road Infrastructure Development in Ghana,” he advocated for a more inclusive approach to the nation’s road tolling system to ensure adequate revenue generation for road infrastructure development.
He expressed concern that, as was the case prior to the suspension, there exists an inequity in the current road tolling system, which disproportionately affects a small segment of the population.
He questioned why residents of affluent areas such as East Legon and Cantonments, which benefit from well-maintained roads, are not subjected to tolls in the same manner as those residing in areas like Ashaiman and Kasoa, where road conditions are subpar.
The current architecture that we have in tolling really tend to exclude even the wealthier part of the population, so if I live in Cantonment, East Legon, Ridge which are the high-end neighbourhoods, I will not see a toll, but if I live at Kasoa or somewhere else, I am likely to meet a toll,” was how he put it, insisting “there seems to be an inequity in tolling and I believe that we should look at broad-based tolls.
Our government is determined to close the financing gap through a multipurpose approach and wish to propose policy initiatives to address some of the identified challenges.
