The Ranking Member of Parliament's Roads and Transport Committee has said the Minority Group is happy that the Finance Minister has recognized the importance of road tolls.
Mr. Governs Kwame Agbodza stated on JoyNews' Newsnite on Monday that Minority opposed the cancellation of road toll due to the importance of the levy.
His comment comes in the wake of Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta's revelation that government has found an innovative strategy to raise funds to facilitate the rehabilitation and extension of the Tema Motorway.
According to him, government in line with the Public Private Partnership Act, 2020 (Act 1039) will establish a concession agreement between the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) and the Roads and Highways Ministry that will sponsor the 27.7-kilometer project.
Presenting the Mid-Year Budget to Parliament for approval, Mr. Ofori-Atta said the project, upon completion, will be tolled.
Reacting to this, Mr. Agbodza called on the Finance Minister to apologise to Ghanaians for this U-turn.
“Apologise to the people of this country first, apologise to the toll workers he sacked, find money and pay them, apologise to the Speaker of Parliament,” he said.
According to him, since Mr. Ofori-Atta did not “come to Parliament with any apology, it is difficult to see what he wants to do.”
He added that if “tolling is a factor of revenue generation to construct roads” the Finance Minister should just say so.
This, according to Mr. Agbodza, is because road tolls are a factor of improvement in road maintenance in every advanced country.
He noted that the Finance Minister in the Mid-year budget did touch on how to pay the tollbooth workers who lost their job as a result of the cessation of collection of the toll.
He said Mr. Ofori-Atta also did not touch on how contractors will be paid.
“This Finance Minister didn’t say a word about how he was going to pay about 10 billion cedis he owes Ghanaian road contractors and he is talking about a new arrangement,” he added.
Latest Stories
-
DAMC, Free Food Company, to distribute 10,000 packs of food to street kids
1 hour -
Kwame Boafo Akuffo: Court ruling on re-collation flawed
1 hour -
Samuel Yaw Adusei: The strategist behind NDC’s electoral security in Ashanti region
1 hour -
I’m confident posterity will judge my performance well – Akufo-Addo
2 hours -
Syria’s minorities seek security as country charts new future
2 hours -
Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo re-appointed as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana
2 hours -
German police probe market attack security and warnings
2 hours -
Grief and anger in Magdeburg after Christmas market attack
3 hours -
Baltasar Coin becomes first Ghanaian meme coin to hit DEX Screener at $100K market cap
3 hours -
EC blames re-collation of disputed results on widespread lawlessness by party supporters
4 hours -
Top 20 Ghanaian songs released in 2024
4 hours -
Beating Messi’s Inter Miami to MLS Cup feels amazing – Joseph Paintsil
4 hours -
NDC administration will reverse all ‘last-minute’ gov’t employee promotions – Asiedu Nketiah
4 hours -
Kudus sights ‘authority and kingship’ for elephant stool celebration
4 hours -
We’ll embrace cutting-edge technologies to address emerging healthcare needs – Prof. Antwi-Kusi
5 hours