Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s Member of Parliament (MP) for the Biakoye Constituency in the Oti Region, Engineer Kwadwo Aboagye Nyanpon, has stated that the amount charged as road toll in the country is woefully inadequate and must be reviewed upward.
Eng. Nyanpon who is also a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport is thus advocating for over 200 per cent increment in the tolls. Saloon vehicles that are currently paying GHp50, according to him, should be made to pay GH¢2 while those paying GH¢1 should be made to pay GH¢4. “It should be increased. It should be increased by 200% for those paying 50pesewas to pay 2.00 and those paying GHS1.00 now should pay GHS4.00,” he said.
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The former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) under whose tenure the road toll was increased in 2009 made the call in an interview on Onua FM’s Yen Sempa on Friday.
“I was the CEO of Ghana Highway Authority in 2009 under the late former President [Atta] Mills when we increased the road tolls. Since then, prices of goods and services have gone up but the toll remains the same.”
“The charges on road tolls are inadequate because in 2009 when it was increased to the current prices, the cedi to dollar was GH¢1.20 and now it’s over GH¢5,” he added.
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Lack of maintenance
The MP advised that anytime a road is constructed, “2% of total cost of that road should be set aside for maintenance annually” if the road will last.
“If you don’t do that for five years, the amount that would be spent for maintenance would be more than double. It would be between 40% to 60% of the total cost of the road.”
Mr. Nyanpon said “lack of maintenance is the cause of our deplorable roads. We need to maintain them always instead of constructing new roads”.
Source: eveningmailgh.com
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