The Minister nominee for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, has promised to ensure the automation of all toll booths in the country, in order that there would be accountability for the revenues collected.

[contextly_sidebar id=”FkP6x1MVdhK0LG7so1NunUobUEqQCiup”]Mr. Boateng lauded the Minister-nominee’s reasoning, noting that with the automated collection of tolls, there isn’t any opportunity for anybody to siphon the income that belongs to the state.

This would ultimately improve Ghana’s revenue, the tax consultant explained, using the Kasoa toll booth as an example.

“When the Kasoa toll booth was automated and also that of the motorway, we were made to understand that the revenue increased by about three times. So for me, once you toll a road and get it automated, you are going to get an increase in the generation of revenue which is paid into the consolidated account.”

Roads that have very heavy vehicular traffic are roads that we normally toll, and it is best to automate them, Mr. Boateng said, adding that it would not be advisable to toll roads in the centre of towns or cities.

“If you are going to toll roads right in the middle of the city, vehicles will have to queue for a very long time before they go past that toll booth… I don’t think that it will be proper to toll a road right in the city centre.”

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Automating toll booths will boost revenue – Tax consultant appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Gidisu noted that automation of toll booths would help reduce the road arrears accrued by the state.

[contextly_sidebar id=”xJKAyQuBNQzEpKSaUCtBbk4qYs9PHgJI”]Only four of the 31 tolling points in Ghana are automated at present.

Mr. Amoako-Attah, during his vetting on Wednesday, revealed that road arrears for the Ghana Highways Authority, Feeder Roads and Urban Roads as of December 31, 2016, stood at GH¢17 billion, adding that the Road Fund generated only GHc1.2 billion yearly, thus establishing a funding gap.

Speaking on why more toll booths had not been automated, Mr. Gidisu said, there are some of the roads which qualify but are yet to be automated like ones on the Kumasi and Sunyani roads.

“But the situation is that there is the need for some diligence and consistency in carrying that situation [the automation] around. Since I left that ministry, no other road toll booth has been automated. the four points were points that we automated at that time and returns have been quite encouraging.”

Innovation will overcome problem of congestion

There have been concerns that more automated toll booths would lead to more vehicular congestion, but Mr. Gidisu noted some innovations that could bypass this problem.

He recounted that at the Tema Motorway, traffic used to build up till the introduced the e-switch; where regular road users could prepay for tickets and use dedicated lanes. “We had a particular lane dedicated to the e-switch for regular users of the motorway so they do not have to wait at the toll booth to pay.”

“These are some of the innovations that we reduced the frustration of congestion that you are talking about… As noted by other speakers, it is one of the very effective ways we can mobilise funds for the road sector and the returns will be far greater in helping to reduce the tension on the road budget,” the former Roads and Highways minister said.

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Automating toll booths will ease road arrears – Joe Gidisu appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.