Accra, Nov. 19, GNA – The Ministry of Roads and Highways has assured it will absorb all toll collectors to undertake specialised duties in the Ministry.
A highly placed source told the Ghana News Agency that the Ministry had commenced processes to train the collectors ahead of their regularisation.
“After the training, we will do needs assessment to see where we can place them. They’ll be given skills training to do certain jobs at the Ministry, including road maintenance work and axle loads operations,” the source said.
The training and regularisation would cover toll collectors engaged by private companies contracted to collect road tolls on behalf of the Ministry, it added.
The source said the toll collectors would receive their monthly salaries throughout the duration of the training.
The Ministry on Wednesday, directed the immediate suspension of collection of road/bridge tolls across the country, following a proposed abolition of road tolls by the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, during the 2022 Budget Statement presentation in Parliament.
After the Ministry’s directive, some toll collectors expressed fear they could be out of job.
Mrs Mawunyo Yakor Dagbah, President of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations, whose members constitute a chunk of the toll collectors, told GNA its members were worried the suspension of the tolls could plunge them into poverty if the Government did not offer them alternative jobs.
The Ministry, in an official statement yesterday, explained its directive was intended to save lives and property.
It said the move followed information it had received that some drivers fiercely resisted the payment of the tolls immediately the Finance Minister announced Government’s decision to abolish the tolls next year.
“The insistence of the toll collectors to have the tolls paid caused serious confusion and, in some cases, resulted in fisticuffs and damage to lives and property,” it said.
There are 38 road toll booths on public roads across the country, 20 of them, privately managed.
They generate GHC78 million annually.
The Government said the revenue was not worth the time wasted by vehicles queuing in heavy traffic to pay the tolls, with health hazard from vehicular emissions.
It would, therefore, use e-levy to mobilise resources for national development.
GNA