Government has hinted at an upward review of the current road toll rate in the country as part of its post-Covid-19 economic recovery efforts.

The Caretaker Finance Minister, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu during the presentation of the 2021 Budget Statement Friday noted that funds generated from the new road tolls will be used to improve and maintain the conditions of the roads in the country.

"Mr Speaker, to maintain the improvements on our roads, government will review existing road tolls and align them with current market rates.

"This will form part of the framework for promoting burden-sharing as we seek to transform our road and infrastructure sector in a post-Covid-19 era,” he informed the House.

The Suame legislator also added that government will amend the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2018 (Act 983) that governs the setting of Rates and Tolls.

The amendment will seek to accommodate an automatic annual adjustment that will be pegged to the previous year’s average annual inflation as published by the Ghana Statistical Service.

Already, Roads and Highways Minister, Kwasi Amoako-Attah had proposed an upward review of Ghana’s road toll rate to finance major roads in the country.

During his vetting, Mr Amoako-Attah said, “At the moment, Ghana pays the lowest rate in the whole world…If you want to go the B.O.T. (Build Operate Transfer) or BOOT (Build Own Operate Transfer) way as we see in other parts of the world, the research that has been done by my ministry on the average toll rate is around $1. But here people pay 50p for toll rate.”

Also, a section of Ghanaians, particularly, the Road Contractors Association have called for an increment in road tolls.

According to them, the current rate of 50 pesewas for saloon vehicles imposed in 2010 does not carry the same value in 2021, as such, an increase in tolls will generate more revenue for government to pay contractors timeously.