Government can rake GH ¢ 157,680,000 per year through automation of toll booths

COPEC campaigns for the automation of toll plazas

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) says the government can collect GH ¢ 157,680,000 per year from the road fund if all of the country’s toll booths are automated.

The Chamber noted that with the average 2.9 million vehicles registered in the country paying 54.37 GHS per year, the government could get more revenue than current figures.

Mr. Duncan Amoah, Executive Secretary of COPEC, said in a press release: “Assuming each vehicle pays GHS 1.00 per crossing, then the total amount of money to be made from the one hundred (100) toll (for in and out) during a year must equal 157,680,000 GHS.

He said the amount could be higher than GHS86’s projected revenues, 312,588.32 for 2021, which was extrapolated based on a 6.7% annual increase between 2017 and 2018 revenues.

Mr. Amoah recalled that in 2018, the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) would have obtained 71,052,748.48 GHS as revenue from the 36 toll booths on some of the country’s highways.

“This is an increase of around 6.7% compared to 66,582,806.03 GHS obtained in 2017. It should be noted that, of the 36 toll booths, only five of them have more of a toll collection unit, bringing the total number of collection units to 100, “he said. declared.

The government, Mr Amoah, said the losses represented a minimum of 40% and a maximum of 80% of the revenues of the 100 toll units at 36 toll plazas across the country based on 2.9 million vehicles. registered in the country.

“So, based on turnover in 2019, Ghana is losing between GHS 28,421,099.392 and GHS 56,842,198.784 per year in revenue,” he noted.

Mr Amoah said that by automating toll plazas, Ghana would graciously join South Africa and Rwanda as the only African countries to deploy Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system.

He explained that the ETC was seen by many as part of a larger intelligent transport system, which included the much talked about vehicle to infrastructure, and that Ghana must act to reap the benefits of the technology.

The COPEC Executive Secretary asserted that with the introduction of ETC systems, the printing of toll tickets would be eliminated, thus saving the cost of printing toll tickets and also improving sanitation in cities.