The
Proposed road toll increment being championed by the Association of
Road Contractors (ARC) is already facing some form of resistance by a
group calling itself the Taxpayers’ Alliance Ghana.
The
Taxpayers’ Alliance Ghana said they are “opposed to any form of increase
in taxes and levies considering the economic hardships that the
Ghanaian taxpayer is going through, the high cost of doing business
coupled with the current energy crisis.”
The group noted that
government had failed to use the accrued fund for the intended road
maintenance but was rather using the money to construct new roads, which
they said is against the purpose of setting up the fund.
Speaking
in an interview with the DAILY HERITAGE yesterday, Executive Secretary
of the Group, Frank Asiedu Bekoe noted that government should go to
Parliament for approval if they want to tax the citizenry for
construction of new roads.
Mr. Bekoe charged government to render
an account to Parliament on the usage of the road fund before thinking
of burdening the taxpayer with increments.
He said government
should broaden its horizon and find innovative ways of generating more
revenue instead of the consistent increase in taxes.
According to
him, the group shall engage stakeholders to ensure that government does
not increase any road toll to further burden the taxpayer.
Background
The
resistance to the proposed road toll increment comes on the back of
calls by the ARC for government to increase fuel levy and road tolls to
raise more funds to finance road construction in the country.
Joseph
Ebo Hewton, national chairman of the ARC noted the government could
rake additional US$500 million yearly into the Road Fund if the fuel
levy and road tolls were reviewed upwards.
Mr. Hewton said
Tanzania last year raised $483 million dollars from fuel, road toll levy
and Ghana could raise more than that amount due to increase in road
traffic in the country.
The national chairman called for more than a one hundred per cent hike in the fuel levy from the current GH0.07p to GH0.28p.
Currently,
he said, government owed road contractors across the country GH¢200.00
million due to the financial challenges facing the economy.
In
addition, he said, government also owed contractors on cocoa roads
GH¢100.00 million and appealed to government to settle the debts as
“soon as possible” to enable contractors to return to work on those
projects.
Mr. Hewton said the non-payment of such arrears to
contractors was killing the road construction industry and collapsing
the businesses of the players in the sector.
According to Mr Hewton, the delay in paying for road contracts was responsible for the shoddy road works in the country.
“Road
construction is not like building a house where you can continue at any
time. When an uncompleted road project delays, the road deteriorates
and the cost increases, which makes the contractor not to deliver
quality work,” he said.
“Road contractors borrow from banks to
pre-finance road contracts awarded them on cocoa roads, and the
government is owing contractors GH¢100 million”, he stated.
The
Minister for Roads and Highways, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini on his part said
details on the increase levels are being worked out for implementation
next year.
“We are going to increase the tolls. As for the tolls
we have even worked with the ministry of finance and in due course you
will hear that,” Alhaji Fusieni affirmed.
He said presently road
tolls contribute about 10 per cent to the road fund and this was
insufficient considering the quantum of maintenance work that is to be
carried out.
The levy is a component of the NRF, which is a
dedicated fund for road maintenance created through an Act of
Parliament, Act 537(1997).
In addition, plans are far advanced to automate the road tolling system as a measure to plug leakages in the toll collections. |
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