Government to automate all toll booths

The government of Ghana will ensure that all 35 toll booths in the country are automated to ensure revenues are properly accounted for, Kwesi Amoako-Attah, Minister-designate for Roads and Highways, has said.

Speaking during his vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Wednesday February 1, he said: “We will improve on the feeder road aspects of our total road network and that will mean taking seriously the process of using the Road Fund, which is set up for routine and periodic maintenance.

“If we use that fund properly, we will be able to put a lot of these feeder roads into good shape, obviously for economic development and to promote [trade] by bringing foodstuffs and other cash crops that are locked in the hinterlands.

“It is important that we sharpen our competence in road toll collection because road tolls are the second highest contributor to the Road Fund. The highest contributor to that fund is the fuel levy. If you take all the toll booths in the country as at now, we have 35 of them nationwide and out of this 35, it is only four that are automated and the four are the Ngleshie Amanfrom, Accra Plaza , Tema Plaza and the Amasaman booth.

“What I will do to improve on the toll collection is to improve on the automation of many of them as possible. I will ensure that those that can be automated will be automated to improve toll collection.”