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| A toll road on Afienya-Akosombo road |
I believe it wasn’t too long ago when road
tolls in Ghana skyrocketed as part of on-going general tax adjustments. I was
particularly unimpressed with the usual flurry of citizen’s objections to tax hikes
because in my estimation, an increase from 5p to 50p after a 20
year lull, probably more, was nothing to cry about. Never mind that unlike others I hardly use toll roads. Anyways that standpoint changed somewhat when I
dared to drive out of town and outside my 5km radius during the just ended
Christmas break. Simply put its daylight robbery to toll certain roads and it
doesn’t matter if the state needs my money.
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| toll "booth" at Afienya |
Clearly traditional sources of road financing like
the consolidated fund gave way long ago. Simply was inadequate. Ghana’s Road
Fund Act lists its sources as, a)
International and Transit Fees; b) Vehicle Registration and Road Use Fees
(which contributes more than 80% of the fund; c) Petrol and diesel levy and d)
Road and Bridge tolls. Recently the Minister of Roads and Transport suggested inclusion of a tax on Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
In the early 2000s during the HIPC days (the
rather challenging Highly Indebted Poor Countries label) also came the build
and operate concept. With this approach to road financing, the financier
(private business, bilateral donors and the Bretton Woods Institutions who
inspired the cost recovery principle) recovered funds used or lent to
the state for building or repairing a road from tolls collected on that road. Thus
many roads acquired “toll road” status. Before then road or bridge tolls were
known only in relation to 2 of Nkrumah’s legacies: the Tema-Accra
Motorway and the Adomi Bridge on the Volta Lake, both built soon
after independence. And the rationale is obvious - gratification, cost recovery,
maintenance. Suffice it to say, the facilities had been built, well built so
there was justification for cost recovery on the investment and maintenance for
our continued gratification. No qualms about that. Needless to say my recent
experience is in complete variance with the gratification-cost recovery-maintenance
triangle.
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| Adomi Bridge near Akosombo |
Now I am not against road tolls. Heck just so
I could collect “priceless” receipts and smiles from the always and I mean
ALWAYS pleasant toll collectors, I used to want to pay so much more; my
generosity often a threat to my dad’s coin box. It must have been something
other than customer service though because; the booths don’t have smiling
takers anymore. What is more likely the case is that the toll collectors thought I was
adorable! I mean how could a chirpy 3 or 4 year old standing on the supple
thighs of mommy or the maid (car seats for kids were not yet invented), held in
check by firm hands (which were as good if not better seat belts at the time)
and handing out daddy’s coins not be adorable? Snap the happy thoughts!
Did
I say already that I don’t mind paying tolls? I did and I meant it. However I
don’t want to pay tolls on broken roads that give me no joy driving on them. Perhaps
we should take a cue from both the South African and Nigerian experiences. The
former revamped their roads and yet faced citizen rebellion against payment of
road tolls; the latter did nothing to revamp or build the roads before
instituting tolls and citizens rightly and forcefully refuse to be ripped off! What do you say? We
take the State’s approach to tolling in the South African example and the
citizens’ response from the Nigerian example and voila! Life sure is that
simple. Better still copy the ingenuity of the Europeans and “let the foreigners pay”!
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| toll booth on Dodowa road |
