This is according to the Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah who made the revelation during the consideration of the 2024 budget statement and economic policy in Parliament earlier today.

Government canceled road toll collections in 2021 after introducing the e-levy which has failed to live up to its promise.

The ministry also says there must be a national dialogue on financing road construction.

Reacting to the Minister’s comment, Minority Chief Whip, Kwame Agbodza noted that the reintroduction of the tolls and the minister’s call for national dialogue on road financing was welcome news.

“I think the minister has done the right thing. I will maintain that the suspension was in a haste. By the time we suspended it we were getting 78 million. Mr. Speaker 78 million can pay SMCs, small medium contractors who were weeding the roadside because today we can’t pay them. So I welcome the bold decision by the minister to reintroduce the debate on road tolls as well.

“The Minister is proposing for a national dialogue on road financing. Mr. Speaker I think that is the appropriate thing to do. Let us all have a conversation on how we fund our roads. We can never have enough loans from World Bank or free money from anywhere, so let’s have a debate on how we fund our roads internally,” he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, says the decision to reintroduce the road tolls are in the right direction.

He however stressed that when the tolls are reintroduced they should come in a digitalised form to avoid losses to the state.

“Mr. Speaker, at the time we were receiving almost about, just a little over 70 million. That over 70% of tolls collected ended up in wrong hands. I hold the view that this reintroduction of the road tolls… should come with a digitalised solution to sustain it so that the human interface will be minimized if not to be eradicated,” he said.

Parliament has approved ₵4.6 billion for the ministry’s services for next year.

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The President believes Mr Kyerematen has over the years done well in the implementation of the industrialisation drive, particularly the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative.

President Akufo-Addo, who is currently on a tour in the Ashanti Region, made these remarks on Kumasi-based Otec FM.

“Today, we are talking about IDIF and the number of factories, and industries that are growing up all over Ghana, 290. And we have targeted and already 106 are in operation and the effect of that is the jobs being created and this goes to the credit of Alan,” he lauded.

Highlighting the Minister’s efforts, the President noted the Ghana Automotive Policy rolled out in August 2019 has attracted global vehicle manufacturing companies to set up assembly plants in Ghana to start production for the African market.

“Since June 2021, Toyota, Suzuki, Nissan, VW, and other leading brands are produced here and this is also creating jobs for thousands. Again, I can credit the Trade Minister for his hard work and bringing this to fruition,” he acknowledged.

Aside from Mr Kyerematen, President Akufo-Addo also commended the Roads and Highways Minister, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, stating he stands tall among his peers in the sector.

The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, has lauded the President, Nana Akufo-Addo for his incomparable achievement in the road sector since Ghana gained independence.

According to him, there is no President who can be compared to President Akufo-Addo in terms of road infrastructure, adding that he (President) has constructed more roads in the history of Ghana.

He made this known during the commissioning of the Kwafokrom Apedwa road in the Eastern Region.

“Nana Addo’s record in the road sector is unprecedented, and since independence, no government can compare their record to that of Nana Addo,” he claimed.

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He has, therefore, challenged persons with contrary views to provide their evidence.

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, has indicated delays will no longer be tolerated from contractors awarded projects.

According to him, contractors who will delay their projects will suffer nothing less than a contract termination.

Despite admitting the delays were due to late payment and capacity, he added the contract when terminated will be repacked and re-awarded.

Mr Amoako-Atta sounded this message of caution when he appeared before the floor of Parliament on Friday to answer questions on the delay of road projects, particularly within the Adentan enclave.

Over 600km of road in the Municipality has a little over 130km constructed, leaving a deficit of over 450km yet to be constructed.

However, he assured measures have been put in place to ensure the contractor gets to the site by the end of the year or face dire consequence.

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Meanwhile, he denied claims of good roads in his constituency by showing pictures of the terrible roads in the area.

Play the audio attached above:

The denial, he said was because the minister said he works with Joy FM.

The denial was after the minister had agreed that Seth meets him at Koforidua, a journey he undertook from Accra only for its purpose not to be fulfilled on getting to Koforidua.

Prior to the release of the latest Joy News‘ Hotline Documentary on road accidents dubbed ‘Crushed’, Mr Boateng said he wanted to interview the minister so he could share his views on the matter but it ended on an unfortunate note.

Mr Boateng was speaking about the compilation of the documentary on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM when he made the revelation about the politician’s refusal and its attendant frustration.

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According to the renowned journalist, Mr Amoako-Attah said the media house had misrepresented him some time ago so he couldn’t grant the interview.

He said he doesn’t talk to Joy FM. The Road Minister told me he doesn’t talk to Joy FM because we had misrepresented him thrice…

I drove from Accra to Koforidua only for him to tell me he can’t do the interview because he doesn’t talk to us. He told me to meet him in Koforidua and he knew I worked with Joy…, he told Andy Dosty.

Meanwhile, the ‘Crushed’ documentary which was produced by Seth Kwame Boateng captures chilling details of how many families have lost loved ones to road carnage.

The Roads Minister-designate, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, has attributed the delay in paying road contractors to the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy.

According to him, the pandemic affected government’s revenue mobilisation to settle the arrears owed contractors on time.

Responding to a question posed by the Ranking Member on the Appointments Committee, Haruna Iddrisu, the sector Minister assured the committee of government’s commitment to pay its indebtedness to contractors.

“Mr Chairman, I will not sit down here and say that all contractors have been paid on schedule even though the government for the past four years has made efforts to pay our contractors because of the good work they render to the country.

“There are also outstanding payments and efforts are being made as and when monies are released to the Ministry. But Mr Chairman, we should not lose sight of the fact of the difficulties we all went through as a government and as a nation due to Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

Mr Amoako-Atta, however, denied claims that government discriminates against some contractors in the payment of debts owed the contractors.

He stated that the Road Fund is being managed by a credible Board under a strong leadership who will ensure that fairness prevails.

Commenting on the road network of the country, Mr Amoako-Atta said about 39% of Ghana’s road network of 80,000 kilometers are in good shape while the remaining 61% need critical attention.