Road tolls will be reintroduced – Finance Minister-designate

Finance Minister-Designate, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, has confirmed that the National Democratic Congress (NDC)-led government will reintroduce road tolls in Ghana in line with the party’s 2024 manifesto.

Speaking during his vetting session before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Monday, January 13, 2025, Ato Forson said the NDC remains committed to its promise to bring back road tolls – a policy which was removed by the previous government led by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

“The previous government indeed removed the road toll but getting to the end, they signaled that the road toll is coming back. They submitted it to Parliament but it was not laid despite a concession agreement with a company to reintroduce it.

“The NDC indicated from day one that the road toll will come back. We are not running away from it. So I can assure you we are a party that sticks to our promises. And whatever we have promised to do, we will do just that. If the road toll is a way to raise revenue, we will raise the revenue.”

Road tolls were first introduced in Ghana in the early 1990s as a means of generating revenue for the construction and maintenance of roads across the country.

They became a common feature on major highways and roads, with vehicles being required to pay a toll for using these routes.

However in 2021, the Akufo-Addo-led administration made the controversial decision to abolish road tolls as part of the budget for that year.

The government justified the decision by stating that the tolls had become inefficient and costly to collect, and that the revenue generated was minimal in comparison to the expenses involved in running the toll system.

The cancellation was then replaced with the controversial E-Levy.