The Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament has approved the controversial road tow levy to begin operating from September 1, 2017.
According to the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Samuel Ayeh-Paye, the decision was arrived at after extensive consultations with stakeholders in the road and transport industry.
This follows the passage of a Legislative Instrument (LI) on the road tow levy.
Chairman of the Road and Transport Committee of Parliament, Hon. Ayeh-Paye urged the Ministry to sensitise the populace on the levy before its implementation.
“Our recommendation is that it is a very good project, we have looked at other stakeholders and in fact they don’t have the capacity to undertake this project . . . We have asked the operator as part of our recommendation to absorb other small towing trucks in the contract so that other private and small towing truck services will not be affected or have their businesses collapsed,” Chairman of the Road and Transport Committee of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Ayensuano, Samuel Ayepaye stated in a interview.
He noted that the contract involves general road safety management which includes clearing trees that block roads and several other road safety measures.
The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) introduced the service in order to rid the country’s roads of broken down vehicles that are abandoned and which cause accidents.
Government had proposed a fee of between GHc20 and GHc200, depending on tonnage, on the registration of vehicles or renewal of road worthiness certificates at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to fund the policy.
The law which was to take effect July 1, 2017, was suspended to enable the Transport Ministry to hold stakeholders engagements, following the massive public disapproval it received.
The Road Safety Management Company Limited and its allied service providers will enjoy 85% of the charges while the DVLA and Police Service share 5% each.
Ministry of Finance, as well as NRSC, will also be allocated 2.5% each from the proceeds.
He, however, said the Committee reached a compromise with the operator, to cede 5% of its share of 85% of the earnings to the Ambulance Service and National Health Insurance Authority.
The operator has therefore agreed to pay 2.5% of the accrued amount to the National Ambulance Service while another 2.5 percent will be paid to the National Health Insurance Authority to be used for the treatment of accident victims.
The recommendations of the committee have been sent to the Transport Minister and implementation is likely to take effect by ending of September 2017.
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