TOLLING OUR ROADS

REPORTS that heavy traffic is back on the Mallam-Kasoa road following the tolling of the road is quite worrying.
For many years, users of the Mallam-Winneba road expressed frustration at the snail’s pace at which traffic moved on that portion of the Western Corridor of the country. The situation was aggravated in the last decade or so following the development of new houses in satellite communities such as Weija, Aplaku, Tuba, Bortianor, GICEL, Kasoa, Nyanyano and Buduburam along the road.
As if that was not enough to make travelling a nightmare, a major market developed at Kasoa until recently when it was relocated to the Kasoa-Bawjiase road amidst fierce protests from market women, drivers and residents.
The rebuilding of new roads and rehabilitation of existing ones require massive investment. Nonetheless, donor fatigue requires that our government look within to raise the resources necessary for the development of the country’s roads and other infrastructure.
A recall of the difficulties that Ghana went through in accessing funds from the Japanese government to reconstruct the Mallam-Kasoa-Yamoransa road, particularly when the country went HIPC, makes the decision to provide toll booths on that road and others reasonable.
The tolling of the roads may also be understandable for economic reasons, in order to recoup the cost of the reconstruction and for maintenance purposes.
However, it is our expectation that the Ministry of Transportation would have carried out a more extensive public education on the tolling process. The inadequate nature of the public education on the issue creates the unfortunate impression that the travelling public is against the exercise.
Travellers have disliked toll roads not only for the cost of the tolls but also for delays at the toll booths, a situation that would confront road users on the Kasoa Road for some time.
Ghana lacks the capacity to introduce electronic toll collection, which reduces delays in tolls collection. Ghana, like many other countries, is turning to toll booths to meet increasing demands for well-paved roads because of a constrained budget.
Currently, road users are paying for road use through fuel taxes and registration fees and it is expected that road tolling would deliver substantial benefits to road users, taxpayers and the economy as a whole.
The country has a long way to go to achieve acceptable standards for its road networks. Presently, a larger portion of the roads is untarred, making transportation a major headache.
It is a sad commentary that more than 50 years after independence, all major roads to and from the city are under construction.
The Daily Graphic is aware of the tax burden on the people but the government has the responsibility to provide for the needs of the governed.
Nevertheless, in a situation where everybody seems to be singing from the same hymn sheet that the country should look within for the resources to develop, the only option is for all responsible citizens to live up to their civic responsibility of paying their taxes.
The Daily Graphic thinks the tolling idea is good but in future, the Ministry of Transportation should engage all stakeholders on the implementation of the programme so that there will be ownership at the leadership and local levels.
While we are at it, the ministry can consider increasing the toll plazas to more than one as pertains on the Tema Motorway to ease the traffic.