{"id":1275,"date":"2022-03-04T13:33:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T13:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parliamentnews360.com\/?p=1275"},"modified":"2022-03-04T13:33:06","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T13:33:06","slug":"suspension-of-road-tolls-has-not-led-to-revenue-loss-road-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parliamentnews360.com\/index.php\/suspension-of-road-tolls-has-not-led-to-revenue-loss-road-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspension of Road Tolls has not Led to Revenue Loss \u2013 Road Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Minister for Roads and High Ways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta says there has not been any revenue loss by the suspension of all Road and Bridge Tolls in the country so far since there is no expected revenue from Road Tolls in the year 2022.<\/strong>
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According to him, the 2022 Budget Zero-rated toll revenues in the country and therefore there are no revenues to be accounted for in the year. Adding that the suspension of the tolls was to save lives and property since there were near confrontations between motorists who refused to pay the tolls and the toll collectors after the reading of the budget.
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The Minister made the remark in response to an urgent question in Parliament filed by the Ranking Member on the Road and Transport Committee, Governs Kwame Agbodza concerning the estimated loss of revenue due to the cessation of the collection of Road and Bridge tolls.
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The Ministry of Roads and Highways announced the suspension of the collection of all Road and Bridge tolls in a press release dated November 17th 2021 just after the reading of the 2022 Budget in Parliament. However, the mandate of the budget was to take effect from December 1st 2022.
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The Minister in his answer, said, \u201cThere has been no loss of revenue to the Ministry of Roads and Highways since the cessation of the collection of road tolls. Mr. Speaker, after the presentation of the 2022 budget statement and Economic Policy of Government by the Minister of Finance on 17th November 2020, most road users refused to pay road tolls at all the locations throughout the country.
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\u201cDuring that period, there was confusion between road users and the collectors. Mr. Speaker, in order to save lives and property at the toll locations, a directive was issued for the suspension of the collection of the tolls. Mr. Speaker, with the approval of the 2022 Budget effectively, road tolls have been zero-rated and there would be no revenues in 2022 for road tolls.\u201d
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The Minister did not provide any further answers to justify the potential loss of revenue in the gap between the day the budget was read on November 17th and when it was finally approved on December 24, 2021 to take effect on January 1st 2022.
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The Member of Parliament for the Adaklu Constituency in the Volta region, Governs Kwame Agbodza, who filed the question, expressed dissatisfaction at the response given to him by the Minister since all efforts to get him to respond to the issue proved futile.
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Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Minister for Roads and High Ways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta says there has not been any revenue loss by the suspension of all Road and Bridge Tolls in the country so far since there is no expected revenue from Road Tolls in the year 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[626,668,787,788,789],"class_list":{"0":"post-1275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-news","8":"tag-2022-budget","9":"tag-governs-kwame-agbodza","10":"tag-kwasi-amoako-atta","11":"tag-minister-roads-and-highways","12":"tag-road-and-bridge-tolls"},"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n