Government to use E-Levy as collateral for loans – Roads Minister

Roads Minister, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, has indicated that government is seeking to use E-Levy as collateral after its passage in Parliament.

According to him, government in its wisdom will use the E-Levy to bring in greater revenue that would be securitized and used to raise a bond for road infrastructure.

The minister made this known in parliament while responding to a question from Adaklu MP, Kwame Governs Agbodza on whether road tolls will be reintroduced.

“Government is fully determined to use all forms of revenue into the road fund to build road infrastructure in the country including the revenue from tolls. Mr. Speaker, there are four main sources, one is what we get from the fuel levy, the other three sources are from the toll booths, from the DVLA sources and the vehicles that transcend on the corridors of our country.

The three together constitute nearly 6 percent. The Government in its wisdom has called for the passage of E-Levy to bring in more revenue to build the road infrastructure of our country. So government is looking forward to the passage of E-Levy that will bring in greater revenue that would be securitized and then used to raise a bond if possible, to build the road sector infrastructure. So government direction and policy is to bring in better form of collection because the toll revenue is built in the proposed E-Levy,” he said

He added that government has not made any loss since the cessation of road tolls as the budget was approved.

“There has been no loss to the ministry of Roads and Highways since the cessation of tolls. Mr. Speaker, after the presentation of the 2022 budget statement, most road users refused to pay tolls at all the locations throughout the country. During that period, there was confusion between road users and the collectors. In order to save lives and property, a directive was issued for the suspension of the tolls. Mr. Speaker, with the approval of the 2022 budget, effectively road tolls have been zero rated and there will be no revenue in 2022 for road tolls,” Amoako-Atta added.

source: Ghana Web