'Peanut' monies from road tolls 'insignificant' to road fund – Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah

Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, has said the abolishing of road tolls will have no significant effect on the Road Fund.

He said the road tolls contribute only about Ghc 78m to the Road Fund which generates about Ghc 1.9bn annually.

Road tolls, Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) charges and a percentage of taxes on Fuel prices contribute to the Road Fund.

Aside from this ‘insignificant’ road toll contribution to the fund, he said only about 30% of vehicles plying our roads pay road tolls which is not a fair representation.

“We are no more using Road tolls as a mechanism for funding public roads,” Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah told Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM’s ‘kokrokoo’ programme Thursday morning in relation to the Electronic Levy.

He said the value of Mobile Money transactions have increased from about Ghc 78.5billion in 2016 to Ghc 564 billion in 2020 making it viable for taxation.

On how workers manning the various toll booths won’t be negatively affected, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the collectors numbering about one hundred (100) who are mainly sub-contractors across the country would be integrated into sector by the Ministry of Roads and Highways to perform other significant tasks.

No more road tolls

Government has scrapped the amount of money being paid by motorists as tolls on public roads in the country. This should come as a relief for road vehicle users given the heavy vehicular traffic, lengthened travel time and ineffective revenue collection at tolling points on our public roads.

This was announced by the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta in his presentation of the 2022 budget statement and economic policy to Parliament on Wednesday, November 17, 2021.

Explaining the rationale behind the scraping of the road tolls, the Minister said the revenue that accrues to the state for the construction and maintenance of roads is inadequate and hence, the government has to look elsewhere to equitably generate revenues for the construction and maintenance of our roads.

ROAD FUND ACT, 1997 ACT 536

Establishment of the Road Fund

Object of the Road Fund

(1) The object of the Fund is to finance routine periodic maintenance and rehabilitation of public roads.

(2) The Fund shall be used to assist the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the performance of their functions relevant to public roads under an enactment.

3. Financial resources of the Fund

The moneys for the Fund shall be derived from

(a) the proportion of Government levy on petrol, diesel and refined fuel oil as determined by the Cabinet with the approval of Parliament,

(b) bridge, ferry and road tolls collected by the Authority,

(c) vehicle licence and inspection fees,

(d) international transit fees, collected from foreign vehicles entering the country, and

(e) the moneys that the Minister responsible for Finance in consultation with the Minister may determine with the approval of Parliament.