Government in its 2022 budget announced suspended paying of road, bridge tolls
Toll booth attendants currently at home awaiting a re-assignment by government say there is still traffic at some toll booths, especially at Kasoa, even though they have been asked to vacate the booths to enable free flow of traffic.
The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, announced that government has abolished all road tolls.
According to him, the directive takes effect as soon as the budget is approved.
Presenting the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of government on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, 17th November 2021, Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori Atta mentioned that a new levy will be imposed to make the toll paying more universal.
He mentioned that over the years, the tolling points have become unhealthy market centres, led to heavy traffic on our roads.
The Minister added that the toll booths also lengthened travel time from one place to another, and impacted negatively on productivity.
He also said toll booth workers will be re-assigned.
However, a day after the budget was read, it was realised that none of the toll booth attendants went to work to collect road tolls.
It was also noticed that there was no traffic at the booths after the collection of the tolls came to a halt.
Speaking on on Atinka TV’s morning show, Ghana Nie with Ekourba Gyasi Simpremu, three of the attendants, Mariam, Eva and Ernest Antwi said even in their absence, there is still traffic at the booths.
According to them, they always made sure they rendered tickets quickly to enable the vehicles move faster, adding that their existence at the tooth did not really cause traffic.
Rather, they said most of the roads leading to the booths were not smooth and so drivers always had to slow down before they even get to the booths.
At Kasoa for instance, they said the traffic starts at a bus stop before the police station, through to the booth, saying the traffic does not start at the booth.
“A colleague went to Kasoa toll booth to check the traffic and there was massive traffic at the booths and this was captured on phone, so we were not the cause of traffic,” Eva said.
“No attendant would want traffic to be in their lane, when it happens, they lose their target because the drivers then turn to use booths that are free.
“Before you can meet your target, you have to be fast so that you can meet more vehicles so the traffic is not from us. The cars are rather many; one car takes a maximum of 2 seconds unless the person is holding GHC100,” Ernest Antwi said.
Meanwhile, the three said they were yet to be assigned, calling on government to ensure they all get back their jobs.