The Vice Chairman of the Ghana Association of Road Contractors, Mr. Stephen Attasi, has dispelled claims that the collection of road tolls on sections of roads in the country was the cause of heavy traffic on some of these roads.

According to him, these assertions misled the Ministry of Roads and Highways into suspending the collection of tolls across the country.

Mr. Attasi made this comment in reaction to the Finance Minister’s decision to toll some newly constructed roads by way of the Public-Private Partnership agreement in his Mid-Year Budget Review delivered to Parliament on Monday, July 25, 2022.

Speaking on the Ghana Yenson morning show hosted by Kwame Obeng Sarkodie on Accra 100.5 FM on Thursday, July 28, 2022, he said what is needed is the major expansion of many of the roads to ease traffic and not the cancellation of the collection of tolls.

“In some jurisdictions, they are no longer building two-lane roads. The building of two-lane roads has been scrapped, so why should we be here constructing two-lane roads that will eventually result in a head-on collision”? he queried.

He said many countries now are building 12-lane roads—six here, six there—to ease traffic.

He was of the view that road tolls are the way to go even though what Ghanaians pay by way of the toll is minimal.

He said the decision to cancel the collection of the tolls was an ill-conceived one and called on the government to offer an unqualified apology to Ghanaians.

Source: classfmonline.com