Parliament approves 20-year concession for nationwide electronic road tolling

Parliament has approved a concession agreement to reintroduce road and bridge tolls through a nationwide electronic toll collection system under a public-private partnership arrangement.

The agreement establishes the legal and commercial framework for the financing, design, construction, operation, maintenance and eventual transfer of an electronic tolling system aimed at improving revenue mobilisation for road infrastructure.

The initiative is expected to modernise toll collection by adopting internationally accepted electronic tolling technology, restore a sustainable source of funding for road maintenance, improve operational efficiency, minimise revenue leakages and enhance transparency in toll administration.

The concession agreement is between the Ministry of Roads and Highways, acting on behalf of the Government of Ghana, and a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to be incorporated by Rock Africa Limited, which will mobilise private investment to develop and operate the electronic tolling infrastructure.

Under the agreement, electronic tolling will be introduced at 66 locations across the country, covering 13 operational corridors. These include 38 existing toll stations and 28 newly identified strategic tolling points.

The revenue-sharing arrangement provides that the Government of Ghana will receive 70 per cent of gross toll revenues, while the concessionaire will retain the remaining 30 per cent.

The concession will run for 20 years, comprising a three-year design and construction phase followed by 17 years of operation and maintenance. At the end of the concession period, all project assets will be transferred to the Government of Ghana in accordance with the terms of the agreement.

The agreement was laid before Parliament on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, by the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources on behalf of the Minister for Roads and Highways before being referred to the Roads and Transportation Committee for consideration.

Parliament subsequently approved the agreement after the Chairman of the Roads and Transportation Committee, Isaac Adjei Mensah, presented the committee's report and recommended its adoption.

Seconding the motion, the Ranking Member of the committee, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, said members concluded that the reintroduction of road tolls would significantly improve revenue generation for the Road Fund to support the maintenance of roads and bridges across the country.

He recalled that the previous administration suspended the collection of road tolls in 2022 to allow for the development of a more efficient electronic tolling system and the expansion of toll collection nationwide.

According to him, Cabinet had already approved a roadmap for the reintroduction of road tolls before the previous government left office.

“So, I am happy that the current government did not abandon the previous Cabinet's approval of the re-introduction of road tolls,” he said.

Contributing to the debate, the Member of Parliament for Bimbilla, Dominic Nitiwul, urged the House to support the agreement while explaining the rationale behind the previous government's decision to abolish road tolls.

He said the suspension was intended to ease the financial burden on motorists following the introduction of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy).

“When we sat in Cabinet and the e-levy came, we knew it would bring some bit of burden to Ghanaians with lots of queues with people spending lots of hours and burning fuel.

“We calculated that we could get as much as GH10 billion then on the e-levy but we realised that the easiest way was to remove the road toll that was giving us less GH100 million,” he said.

Mr. Nitiwul added that he fully supports the reintroduction of tolls provided the system remains electronic and does not create unnecessary inconvenience for road users.

“The road tolls are electronic and it is 20 years, I think it is good for us to support it,” he said.