The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Tema Branch, has called on government to adopt an electronic road toll system to address issues of mismanagement and improve revenue collection.

The union said that digitalising toll collection would enhance transparency, eliminate revenue leakages, and modernise Ghana’s road management system.

Daniel Abeku Dadson, Chairman of the Tema Industrial Area Taxi Branch of GPRTU, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that there was a need for improvement of the toll collection system to reduce congestion at toll booths, enhance the safety of toll attendants, and minimise conflicts between drivers and toll collectors. 

Mr Dadson said the system would also create a reliable database on road usage patterns, which would be valuable for planning future road projects, saying that the government must prioritise digitalisation to ensure accountability and fairness. 

He, however, said that the government must do the due diligence so it does remove taxes that would have implications on the country’s economy and emphasised the need for all foreign haulage vehicles to be taxed for plying the roads for their business activities. 

Mr. Seidu Asamoah, Station Master, of Tema-Koforidua station, mentioned that the previous toll system was characterised by allegations of corruption, underreporting of funds, mismanagement, and traffic congestion, which negatively impacted the maintenance and development of road infrastructure across the country.

Mr Asamoah said reforms were required in the collection of road tolls, adding that “we believe an electronic toll collection system will address the inefficiencies in the current system because this will ensure that every pesewa collected is accounted for.”

He said the increasing volume of vehicles on the roads, especially in urban areas such as Tema, makes the introduction of an automated system even more necessary and suggested that the electronic toll system could include options such as prepaid cards, mobile money payments, and others.

He, however, called for the expansion of the roads to reduce congestion and robbery across the country, especially in highly trafficked areas.

Yaw Frimpong, a Tema to Accra driver, said, “The manual process was slow and full of loopholes; if the government is serious about improving the situation, it must embrace technology.”

The union called on the government to engage transport unions, drivers, and other road users in consultation to ensure the successful implementation of the initiative.