Kasoa Toll Booths Create Traffic

Page 48

13-05-08

THE introduction of the collection of tolls on the Kasoa-Malam road yesterday resulted in heavy vehicular traffic on the portion of the road where the toll booths are mounted.
This has resulted in road users questioning the rationale for the mounting of toll booths on the newly constructed road that was meant to ease traffic, without any effort to expand that portion of the road where the booths have been installed.
The toll booths are mounted near the new police barrier at the Tuba junction.
Street ramps have also been constructed on that portion of the road to enable drivers to slow down for the payment of the tolls.
What makes the situation worse is that, aside paying of the tolls, drivers from the Accra or Mallam end of the road have to pass through the police barrier for their vehicles to be checked by the police.
Passengers and drivers therefore get stuck in traffic for long periods due to the slowdown in vehicular movement as a result of the new arrangements.
A Mankessim-based commercial bus driver, Kofi Aduamoah, who spoke to the Daily Graphic, said he did not mind paying the toll fee of 10GP, but he was uncomfortable with the long time spent on the way to the toll booths.
“Something needs to be done about the situation, We cant spent all this time just to pay tolls,” he said.
A resident of Kasoa, Stephen Mensah, suggested that the portion where the toll booths are mounted should be expanded to ease the traffic on the road, since people were going to get late for work in the mornings if nothing was done.
One of the collectors of the toll who wants to remain anonymous said that the response to the new tolls was good.
The Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Transportation, Mr Ken Anku, who spoke to the Daily Graphic on telephone, said the ministry anticipated some amount of traffic build-up on the road on the first day of the collection of tolls.
According to him, before the commencement of the collection of tolls on the road, announcements were made to alert the travelling public, adding that it was the ministry’s policy that all newly constructed roads have toll booths mounted on them.
He said the collection of tolls on the road had been contracted out to a company, which was also responsible for the management of any problems that might occur.
He, however, said the ministry had already sent inspectors to the area and they would provide a situational report that would give it an insight into the situation and the appropriate intervention.