In 2021, Ghana’s Minister of Finance, during a budget reading announced that Ghanaian road users would no longer have to pay road tolls across the country.
A reason for the removal was the passage of the E-Levy bill. Another reason given was that it would help to ease congestion in some popular areas where traffic was intense.
But if the solution was to ease congestion, wouldn’t a better way to do that? A solution was proposed in the past: Electronic toll booths.
Funny enough, a project was actually done and Ghana did have electronic tolls. So what happened?
History
On March 9th, 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 was initiated by Angel Data and Telecom Services.
Fast forward, 10+ years later, there is no E-Toll project on the Tema motorway and road tolls have currently been abolished by the current government administration.
So what happened? There’s not a lot of research on why the project didn’t go forward. We could only speculate that road users found the familiar use of cash better than the automated system or that the system couldn’t be sustained due to lack of funds from government.
Currently, the only electronic toll system in Ghana is currently being run by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA). The system is to help reduce time spent in queues when making payment of tolls. Drivers can use cards, mobile money and make advance payments to the bank which would be remitted to GPHA. But this system is currently limited to the ports.
Will Road Tolls Come Back But With Electronic Features?
Currently, there are suggestions and rumors that the local government might consider bringing back road tolls but nothing has been announced thus far.
Before road tolls were abolished, there was a suggestion last year by 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.
If Ghana ever decided to adopt E-Tolls, it would join South Africa and Rwanda as the only African countries to deploy an Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) System.
Right now, Ghana road tolls are non-operational. Even though there are rumors or rumblings that road tolls could be brought back, there is no certainty that electronic road tolls will be put to use.
