Roads Minister Kwasi Amoako Atta has stated that motorists should brace themselves for a rise in road toll charges in 2023.
According to him, the prior road toll payment was insufficient to build adequate decent roads.
As a result, the amount paid as road tolls will be increased in order to get more funding to create decent roads in the country.
“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.
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Meanwhile, Mr Amoako-Atta has claimed that road tolls will be paid electronically.
“We are going to build a modern expressway which will come with tolling facilities, but those tolling facilities will be electronic tolling facility. If it has to come, it will be done electronically,”
He further explained that “road tolls have not been cancelled or abolished since the law to collect tolls is still there.”
Tolls on public highways was eliminated in November 2021 as part of the government’s policy initiatives proposed in the 2022 Budget.
However, it has been restored by the government as one of the income initiatives in the 2023 budget given to Parliament by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
“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.
SOURCE: myjoyonline
