A professor at the University of Ghana Business School, Patrick Asuming has said that he is suspicious of the intention of the government to bring back road tolls.
He said the government made similar comments in the past about bringing back some abolished levies but that did not materialize hence his doubts.
“The e-levy is a bad tax that should be removed with or without the road tolls. I am very suspicious that these road tolls will be back.
In 2023 they stated that they were going to bring back some tolls that were removed but we didn’t hear anything about it. Now you are saying this.
“I am not sure there is a real intention to bring back the road tolls. It was a bad idea to remove the road tolls,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, July 27.
The government plans to reinstate road tolls, which were discontinued in 2021. Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam announced that the Cabinet has approved a plan to reintroduce the tolls by 2025.
This announcement was made during the mid-year budget review presented in Parliament on Tuesday, July 23.
In June, New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer and Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia advocated for the return of road tolls to enhance the country’s road infrastructure.
He pointed out that the government is currently facing funding shortages for infrastructure projects and suggested that road tolling could be an effective solution.
“Let us go back to a system of broad-based road tolls. The tolling system has to come back, and I think it will come back.
“It is a fundamental mistake of the government to place all road projects on the budget. The government doesn’t have enough money and the private sector has to be brought in,” he noted.
Government canceled road toll collections in 2021 after introducing the e-levy which government said was to substitute the road tolls.
However, the e-levy has failed to live up to its promise prompting government to bring back the tolls in 2025.