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The government has initiated the process of reintroducing road tolls, this time using technology-driven solutions.
The Ministry of Roads and Highways, which is spearheading the process, is inviting qualified Ghanaian private sector entities to submit tenders for pre-qualification for the design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance.
The process, which is under the Public Private Partnership Act, 2022 (Act 1039), aims to reintroduce tolling on roads and bridges by modernising 65 tolling points nationwide, an increase from the previous 39 before the suspension, while leveraging advanced technology to enhance efficiency, transparency and revenue generation.
“We are beginning the procurement process, where we are inviting Ghanaian-owned companies or a consortium that is led by Ghanaians. At least they should prove that the Ghanaians have about 51 per cent in that consortium.
“We are doing what we call the pre-qualification, where we look at the technical, the financial capacity of the firms and their legal status,” the Head of Public Relations of the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Nasir Ahmad Yartey, told the Daily Graphic yesterday.
He explained that the successful bidder would be responsible for finance and investment – mobilising capital for the tolling system’s modernisation and also undertake the design and construction through engineering, construction and installation of toll gantries/plazas and related infrastructure.
In the operation and maintenance, he said the selected bidder would manage toll collection and related road/bridges and ensure system reliability and that with revenue collection, it would implement robust systems to maximise efficiency and minimise revenue leakages.
Regarding the technical requirement, applicants must be entities that have completed at least five multi-lane free flow tolling systems consisting of a minimum of 20 multi-lane free flow zones within the past five years.
Again, they should have completed at least five projects in the last five years with a centralised toll management system for a minimum of 10 toll points.
Moreover, they should have completed at least five projects with electronic payment systems processing a minimum of 300,000 transactions daily, within the past five years and also completed at least five similar projects with a minimum contract value of $30 million within the past five years.
Mr Yartey said the deadline for the submission of bids is June 19, 2025, and that the entire process should end “at least by the end of July “so that we can now go all out to reintroduce the toll.
He said the tolling points nationwide had been increased from 39 to 65 “because we see that toll collection is one sure way that we can raise revenue for road maintenance and road construction in this country”.
Mr Yartey said the government was trying to avoid revenue leakages, where people collected tolls and did not account for them.
“So we want a system that will help us block revenue leakages. We want a system that will help us remove traffic or queues at the tolling points.
That is why we say we want it to be a traffic-free system,” he said.
Another feature of the system is its fairness to all Ghanaians.
“So, previously, if you had a poor farmer or trader coming from Kasoa to Accra or a driver, that person always paid toll.
But with someone living somewhere at East Legon, where we have some of our best routes, if that person hasn't travelled out of Accra for a whole month, he/she does not pay toll, and that isn’t fair,” he emphasised.
Asked whether the current toll infrastructure would exist or not, Mr Yartey explained that there would not be physical collection, but the details as to how the final design would look would depend on the proposal that would win the bid.
“But at least what we have stated is that we want a free-flowing traffic tolling system, where people don't have to stop and pay a toll,” he said.
He said it was the government’s policy that this year, the reintroduction of tolls would start, and so they were working towards that timeline.
