Civil Engineer, Engineer Abdulai Mahama has criticised the government's decision to abolish road tolls on all public roads across the country.

Speaking on Thursday, November 18, 2021, during Joy FM's Super Morning Show, he stated that the decision will not end traffic congestion in the country since the tollbooths are not the sole cause of the challenge.

He cited for instance, that on roads such as the Pokuase, Ofankor and Amasaman stretches, there are no toll booths, yet these are some of the routes that record huge vehicular traffic.

"But when you get to Sapeiman where the tollbooth has been properly engineered and designed and constructed, you'll never come across 10 vehicles in a queue waiting to pay the toll. That is a properly constructed, well-engineered tollbooth," he added.

He, thus, urged the government to explore other solutions, including expanding the roads.

"Reengineering the tollbooth areas is a factor. Government should not scrap the tollbooth but redesign them. And it's not compulsory that the tollbooth should be at the same location. When you have done a very detailed traffic impact assessment you have the report at your disposal and then you now readjust it to design the road," he said.

"The traffic locations are not properly designed and spaces are not properly allocated to those junctions. [Also] We have over 2.5 million vehicles in Ghana registered and out of these vehicles, over 50% are located in the Greater Accra Region so that is a total failure of the transportation system," he said.

He further urged government to "take a risk and find some small funds to compensate buildings that are close to roads that are becoming a hindrance to expansion."

The comment was made as part of discussions on Joy FM's SMS, following the abolishment of road tolls and its subsequent implementation on Thursday, November 18, 2021.

Speaking on the same show, Deputy Finance Minister, John Kumah justified the move.

"For now the inconvenience and the cost of it to the country is more than what we are getting from it. When we checked, it was about ₵70million or ₵78million with all the costs and inconvenience and if you assess that and you realise you have other alternatives, you introduce them.

"So we thought that by introducing the e-levy, we could still continue to reimburse the road funds with that amount," he said.