Ghana’s government has announced plans to reintroduce road toll collection across the country, but with a new system that is digitized and automated. The move is aimed at generating revenue for road maintenance and reducing congestion and pollution at the toll booths.
Details
Road tolls were abolished in 2022 by the previous administration, citing the negative impact of tolling points on traffic flow, productivity, and the environment.
However, the current Roads and Highways Minister, Francis Asenso-Boakye, said that the suspension of tolls had left a fiscal gap in the funds needed to fix deteriorating roads across the country.
Driving The News
The ministry had started engaging stakeholders on bringing back the toll collection, but with a modern and efficient system that would eliminate the inconveniences caused by the old system.
The Minister explained that the new system would be digitized and automated. He said that this would reduce traffic congestion, air pollution, and corruption at the tolling points.
By The Numbers
- Before it was postponed, Ghana was collecting about GHC 39 million every month in 2021.
- The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) says the Government can make an estimated GHC 157,680,000 annually if they automated toll booths across the country.
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This is not the first time the government has tried to implement a digital toll collection system.
In 2009, an electronic toll collection system became operational on the Accra-Tema Motorway. The system was to help plug revenue leakages as well as boost revenue for Ghana’s Road Fund.
The system was a pilot program. Drivers would pay booth operators a toll fee, the payment would be registered into a system and a barrier would be lifted for drivers to drive through.
Cameras were fixed to capture the number of vehicles that crossed the toll booth. The project would eventually have payments made through cards and stickers placed on the vehicles.
The project however did not scale up and expand.
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