Current road toll architecture excludes wealthier citizens — Bawumia

The Vice President of Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has criticized the current architecture of road tolls, stating that it excludes even wealthier citizens from paying tolls.

Addressing a High-Level discussion on Roads in Accra on Wednesday, August 7, Dr Bawumia called for a broad-based tolling system that will ensure equitable contribution from all motorists, including those in high-income neighborhoods.

He noted that under the current system where toll booths are located only at specific points, residents of affluent areas like Cantonments, East Legon, and Ridge are not likely to encounter any toll booths on their journeys.

"I live in Cantonments, East Legon, and Ridge which are the high-earned neighborhoods, I will not see a toll, but if I live in Kasoa or somewhere else I am likely to meet a toll on the way. There seems to be an inequity in tolling," Dr Bawumia said.

The Vice President proposed the introduction of a fuel levy as an alternative to the location-based tollbooth system.

“Why shouldn't everybody pay? If you put a tax on fuel, for example, 30 pesewas, meaning you move you pay, if you don’t move you don’t pay," he stated.

Dr Bawumia noted modeling showed that a broad-based fuel levy-based tolling could generate about 2 billion Ghana Cedis annually in toll revenues compared to the 70 million Ghana Cedis collected previously under the location-based tollbooth system.

The calls for equitable road tolling come as the government plans to reintroduce road tolls in 2025 after it was cancelled in 2021 and replaced with the electronic transaction levy (E-levy).