Akoti bridge tollbooths still not constructed: Collectors risk lives to stop vehicles to pay
More than two months after President John Dramani Mahama officially opened the Akoti Bridge in Assin Praso in the Assin North District to traffic, toll booths are yet to be constructed.
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This has posed a serious challenge to the collection of road tolls, as toll collectors stand in the middle of the road to signal drivers to slow down to pay the tolls.
The Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhaji Amin Sulemana, who was accompanied by some directors of the ministry and other sector agencies in an inspection of road projects in parts of the Central Region, who chanced on the exercise, expressed displeasure, and demanded that efforts be made for the erection of tollbooths within the shortest possible time to address the challenges.
Risks
He said apart from the possible leakage or diversion of revenue, the collectors could not maximise collections since some drivers could decide not to slow down to pay the tolls.
Besides, he said, the exercise was risky as the collectors could easily be knocked down by fast moving vehicles in the process.
But the Deputy Chief Executive of the Ghana Highways Authority, Mr Joe-Fred Peaseo, assured the minister that temporary tollbooths were ready and would be installed by next week to ease the difficulties of the collectors.
Though admitting that there could be leakages in the collection and diversion of the tolls collected, he said a police officer was stationed there to assist them to collect the tolls and believed that when the booths were mounted, drivers would be forced to stop to pay.
Mr Peaseo hinted that the permanent booths would be constructed as part of the phase two of the road project.
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Positioning of tollbooths
Giving a background, he said since the opening of the bridge, it had been a problem positioning the tollbooths, since the bridge marked the end and the beginning of the Central and Ashanti regions respectively.
“Since the opening of the bridge, we have had initial challenges with the location, because the two sides of the bridge is in two different regions, one in Central Region and the other in the Ashanti Region. we have had a lot of discussions with them, even as to where to site the permanent structures of the tollbooths,” he explained.
Appeal
The Chief Collector, Mr Segba, who catalogued their challenges to the minister, said the hazards were too much in the course of the work.
For instance, he said most of the motorists sometimes refused to stop when the collectors signaled them to slow down in order to pay, “and they could easily ran over the collectors due to the way they speed.”
In addition, he said since there was no shade, anytime it was about to rain, they often had to abandon the collection to take cover in order to prevent tickets from getting wet.