Account for road tolls that were collected - Kwame Jantuah

Private legal practitioner Kwame Jantuah has asked government to account for the road tolls that were collected prior to suspending the collection.

He said the tolls were meant to refurbish the roads. However, these roads have not been in the best of shape.

This, he said, raises questions about what the tolls were used for.

“ideally, tolls are supposed to be used to maintain the roads but the state of the motorway has been the same,” he said on the New Day show on TV3 Friday May 13.

“The road tolls that were collected, what have they been used for ?” He questioned.

Road toll collections were suspended after the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta announced in the budget statement an end to the collection of the tolls.

During the presentation of the 2022 budget statement to Parliament on Wednesday November 17, he said this takes effect immediately the Budget is approved.

“A comprehensive review will be conducted after every fifth-year taking into consideration, other factors besides inflation including, improvement in quality of service delivery and privatisation of some of the services, where feasible. Mr. Speaker, our roads need fixing. Our roads are being fixed. It is true that more roads have been fixed and are being fixed over the last five years than any relative period in the entire history of our nation. We even want to do a lot more and this budget will cater for this.

“That is why for decades, Government after Government imposed and maintained tolls on some public roads to raise funds for road construction and maintenance. This is the situation in many countries. However, over the years, the tolling points have become unhealthy market centres, led to heavy traffic on our roads, lengthened travel time from one place to another, and impacted negatively on productivity.

“The congestion generated at the tolling points, besides creating these inconveniences, also leads to pollution in and around those vicinities. To address these challenges, Government has abolished all tolls on public roads and bridges. This takes effect immediately the Budget is approved (after appropriation or now?). The toll collection personnel will be reassigned. The expected impact on productivity and reduced environmental pollution will more than off-set the revenue forgone by removing the tolls.”

—3news.com