Reintroduce road toll to generate revenue for national development – Transportation expert

By Tenisha Esaaba Darryl-Lartey

The Executive Director and founder of Toptech Transport and Logistics, Mr. Cecil Garbrah, has called for the re-introduction of road toll to generate revenue for national development.

He criticized the government’s decision to abolish road in 2022, replacing it with the E-levy. According to him, road toll is an effective means of collecting funds for the construction of motorable highways to guarantee the safety of citizens.

Speaking on the Ghana tonight show on TV3, Tuesday July 26th, Mr. Garbrah expressed his frustration with the current state of the Accra-Tema motorway, especially at night, citing concern over security of motorists.

“It was a wrong thing for government to say no to tolls. All over the world, tolls are used to build a nation, like streets, streetlight etc. They are used for collecting money for good and better highways”, Mr. Garbrah said.

He advocated that upon resumption, the collection of the toll should be automated, “We do not need a human at the toll, it should be automated,” he said.

Mr. Garbah also suggested that payment for road toll could be linked to the road-worthy certificate renewal process.  This way, the toll would be collected directly whenever vehicle owners renew their road worthy certificates.  Additionally, he proposed the introduction of a mobile app that would enable all users to pay the toll conveniently and reduce congestion around the toll booths.

The transportation expert also expressed concern about the video that has gone viral, depicting a takeover of the booths by squatters. He urged authorities to arrest those involved.

“I thought it was a joke but it was not so, such a person should be arrested,” he said.

The decision to abolish road toll in 2022 was met with mixed reactions and some significant opposition from citizens, with many expressing their displeasure over the move. Records from 2017 indicated the 37-toll booths in the country generated GHC78million in revenue, further supporting the argument for its reinstatement.