He indicated that Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson will provide further details on the new tolling system during the 2025 budget presentation on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.

Mr. Acheampong expressed confidence that this initiative would address the concerns of road users while ensuring sustainable funding for road infrastructure.

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The stretch has been identified as the most critical and deadliest in the Central region.

The quality of the road and the rampant accidents over the years has been mind-boggling due to drivers’ non-adherence to road safety regulations.

In an interview with Adom News, Mr Amoako-Atta said 30 kilometers road will start from Krispo City to Winneba junction.

The Minister hinted the project is expected to be completed within 30 months.

He has therefore directed all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) on the stretch to inform container owners to remove them before the contractor starts work.

Meanwhile, the District Chief Executives (DCEs) for Gomoa East, Solomon Darko Quarm, Awutu Senya East; Anita Love Obo Amissah and Awutu Senya West; Joseph Aidoo have pledge to ensure strict adherence to the directive.

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This, he claimed was a message from the Roads Minister, Kwasi Amoako-Atta after two years of redundancy.

This follows the arrest of some members for picketing at the Roads Ministry on Wednesday.

The aggrieved Persons With Disability (PWDs) were at the Ministry to seek audience with Mr Amoako-Atta and demand payment of their salaries.

They were however picked up and taken to the Central Police Station, Accra after spending the night at the premises.

But speaking on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem Friday, Mr Ramat claimed the Ministry said paying them will cause financial loss to the state.

“Government has not paid us since December 2021. They said they can no longer pay us because it will be a financial loss to the state even though the Minister said in Parliament that he would pay us,” he bemoaned.

He indicated that, all attempts to get the Roads Minister for a meeting has proven futile and has therefore appealed to government to intervene.

“They gave us their Director and PRO’s number to contact whenever we needed an issue solved. Since last year April, anytime you call the Ministry they don’t answer so we made up our minds to go to the office on Tuesday,” Mr. Ramat added.

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He said the relationship between the consulting engineering industry and the politician was symbiotic, where politics and infrastructure provision were expected to serve the needs of the people.

“Politicians might appear irrational in their decisions, while the consulting engineer will want to be rational. In the spirit of working together, therefore, the first step in persuading politicians is to build a strong foundation of understanding to find a common ground for making decisions,” he said.

Mr. Amoako-Atta was speaking at the 2023 FIDIC Global Infrastructure Conference in Singapore at the invitation of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), who were celebrating 110 years of the organisation’s formation.

The conference was on the theme: “Infrastructure — there’s no time to lose: sustainable global (and local) strategies to build a better world” and sought to highlight the urgency of the need to invest in infrastructure sustainably at both local and national levels to improve the global environment.

The Minister delivered a keynote address on the key conference session topic: “Persuading the politicians — Getting the industry’s message across”.

The session sought to look at how best the industry could engage with politicians and other influential opinion makers to get positive messages across about the need for infrastructure investment.

Mr. Amoako-Atta urged engineers to pursue effective engagement with politicians through collaboration rather than confrontation.

“Instead of imposing our views, you should seek a partnership approach.You should be willing to listen to the concerns and priorities of our elected officials. By understanding their perspectives, you can better tailor your messages to align with their goals. It is, therefore, important that both the politicians and industry players collaborate and engage frequently to ensure the right decisions are made,” he said.

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Mr Amoako-Atta disclosed this during an engagement with the leadership of Road Contractors Association.

“We even want to refurbish all tollbooth structures to provide proper and decent washrooms for the use by motorists so that we advise them to desist from that practice where sometimes you see cars stopping on the highway and people getting down to wee-wee as we usually see,” he announced.

The Minister further urged support among the contractors for the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy).

He noted their support for the levy will help in raising more revenue, part of which will be used to pay road contractors owed by the government.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, while delivering the 2022 budget in Parliament on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, said drivers who ply tolled roads across the country, will no longer be required to pay tolls.

He said the action was also meant to reduce the heavy traffic where road tolls were found with the directive to take immediate effect once the 2022 budget is approved.

However, Mr Amoako-Atta in a separate communique ordered a halt in all toll collections effective, Thursday, November 18, 2021.

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The news was met with agitations from traders along tollbooths in various parts of the country amid calls for an extension.

He said no Ghanaian is bigger than the national interest, therefore, any project that stands in the way of the national interest will be taken off.

Addressing the media in Tamale after inspecting some major roads under construction in the Tamale Metropolis, the Minister said the government is embarking on a drive to dualise the country’s major highways adding that people have gotten wind of it and are deliberately siting projects on these highways.

“I am warning every potential developer that if you make that mistake and start your construction, we will get to you soon and when we get to you even if it is 10-story buildings we will demolish it. Every Ghanaian should know that,” he said.

He, therefore, called on Ghanaians to visit his Ministry or agencies under his Ministry for cross-checking on road reservations before constructing any project.

“All potential developers must cross-check with the Ghana Highway Authority before siting their projects,” he said.

He said the fast nature of these projects would not make room for any time-wasting.

“You can be sure of one thing; if they don’t and we get to them no matter the stage you reach even if the project is completed we are going to demolish it,” the Minister said.

At the Tamale Industrial area, the Minister, who inspected the newly constructed road, said the government is committed to constructing over 100 kilometers of asphalt road in the Northern Region.

 “You can see before and now this road was very bad and impassable, to that extent I understand the agitations of the people, now the same people are happy and that is what we want to do,” he stressed.

Mr Amoako Attah expressed hope that the E-Levy when passed would generate enough revenue to enable the government to undertake more road projects.

“All MPs in Tamale must support the passage of the E- Levy bill for more roads to be done for them and their constituents,“ he said.

The Minister also inspected the interchange project where he assured that work will be done by February and the road open to traffic in March

Earlier in the day, the Roads Minister when he paid a courtesy call on the Northern Regional Minister said the NPP government has done some significant work on roads in the Region, moving it from about 39 to 45 per cent.

He was optimistic that there will be more roads commissioned in 2022.

The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu, on his part, said the provision of the interchange would go a long way to relieve commuters of the stress they go through in the Metropolis.

“There is always that heavy traffic because of the long vehicles, busses, and coaches that pass here. When it’s open to traffic it will ease the stress,” he said.

He said the road is one of the important roads in the area; linking the south to the north and the Sahel Regions.  

He told the Roads and Highways Minister he would continue to appeal for more roads for his region.