Roads Ministry gets greenlight to privatise toll booths by end of May

The Roads and Highways Ministry has said it has secured approval from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to initiate the private takeover of the management of toll booths across the country.

Roads and Highways Minister, Kwasi Amoako Atta, believes the move will ensure the efficient running of the booth for improved revenue generation.

The toll booth is one of the four major revenue generation avenues for the state’s Road Fund.

Though the name of the private company is unknown, the contract period will last for three years.

“Drastic actions will be taken where necessary towards ensuring that our toll booths operate very well for us to derive the expected revenues from it as one of the main four contributing sources to the Road Fund

“The Ministry has received approval from the Public Procurement Authority and this month will sign a contract with a local firm to undertake private management of all the high revenue earning toll stations in the country,” he revealed.

Mr Amoako Atta observes that in order for the Finance Ministry to identify additional funding sources and block revenue leakages especially at the toll booths, drastic actions must such as this privatisation is long overdue.

According to him, at the moment there are about 35 revenue earning toll booths in the country which will be 36 soon after the completion of a new one at Aflao.

The services to be provided will include the rehabilitation and maintenance of the toll booths and the provision of well-tested electronic systems over the three-year contract period.

He warned that the Government has a policy with toll booths and that nobody should attempt to sabotage it.

“Pretty soon the people of this country are going to see the changes that are going to be effected at all the toll booths across the country

“We have the opportunity to travel outside the countries and we see the state of toll booths and how they operate, why can’t we do same in our country? it is going to be done,” he stressed.

He was addressing a strategic management meeting in Kumasi under the theme, “Ghana beyond Aid: Strategies and Sustainable Investment and road Asset Preservation.”

Stakeholders at the meeting observed that booths have the potential to rake in more than they are presently doing if they are given a facelift.

Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, who was present at the event, warned against the issuance of a temporary permit for development along major roads.

He told Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies that it is important to save the government from paying unnecessary compensation.

“In the municipal and metropolitan areas where people will encroach with their kiosk and shops etc and when there is the need for us to have access to the road reservation the country will have to find huge sums of money to pay people for occupying lands that do not belong to them.

“I have issued strong and strict instructions to all the MMDCEs within the Ashanti region to stop issuing these temporary permits they issue to people,” he said.

The strategic meeting was meant to collate ideas on how to address many of the challenges faced in the roads and highways sector.