Need for more revenue inflows into Road Fund – Minister

The increasing cost of road maintenance, the build-up of financing gaps and rising demand for expansion in the sector call for greater inflows of revenue into the Road Fund, Mr Joe Gidisu, Minister of Roads and Highways, has said.

Speaking at a public forum on “Financing Road Maintenance” in Ho on Thursday.

He said over the years the Road Fund was able to finance only 60 percent of road maintenance annually, thereby accumulating 40 percent financing gap annually.

Mr Gidisu appealed to the public and other stakeholders in the road sector to offer constructive suggestions for enriching the Fund.

“The cumulative effects of this backlog over a period of time can have adverse consequences on the road assets with associated cost,” he said.

He said there are three main sources of funding road projects in the country and these are loans, central government and grants which is an irregular source of funding.

Mr Gidisu hinted at the possibility of imposing a levy on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) which many small vehicles have resorted to using because it does not attract the petroleum levy.

“This means that technically they are not contributing significantly to the maintenance of the roads they use,” he said.

Mr Gidisu said estimated total revenue into the Road Fund this year stands at GH¢208.6 million.

He said fuel levy was estimated to contribute 71 per cent, tolls on roads and bridges 19 perc ent, vehicle registration 4 per cent, international transit fee, one per cent and five per cent from exports.

Source: GNA