Accra, Sept. 27, GNA - Government has proposed an increase of road maintenance fees to enable it to generate about 1.2 trillion cedis annually, Mr John Osei Asamoah, Chief Director of the Ministry of Transportation, told the GNA on Wednesday.

He said the essence was to efficiently cater for the maintenance portfolio of the road sector and preserve investment already made in the current road assets valued at seven billion dollars.

At present the Road Fund generates about 100 million dollars annually from fuel levy, vehicle registration fees, road use fee, road and ferry tolls and international transit fees.

The Chief Director was speaking to the GNA after the opening of the Fifth Africa Road Maintenance Funds Association (ARMFA) general meeting in Accra.

ARMFA aims at developing a network for exchange of experiences and information on the financing of road maintenance in Africa and encourages the promotion and strengthening of ties between road maintenance funds on the Continent.

Dr Richard Anane, Minister of Transportation, in a speech read for him, noted that attaining a middle-income status would be a mirage without the provision and maintenance of an efficient and effective transport infrastructure and services.

He said the Government had stepped up investment in the road sector with about 33 per cent of the total national investment budget of 2006 being devoted to transport infrastructure development and maintenance. Dr Anane said the massive investment had been specifically made to ensure that transport was used as a vehicle not only to achieve targets set under the Growth and Poverty-Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II) but also the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the attainment of the middle income status by 2015.

Roads are the predominant mode of transportation in the country and currently account for 94 per cent of freight and 97 per cent of all traffic movements.

Ghana currently has about 58,536 kilometres of roads out of which 9,250 kilometres are paved.

Dr Anane said the road fund supported about 68 per cent of Ghana's road maintenance needs and the Government was exploring all avenues to increase the Fund accruals.

He said the Government had since August 2003 approved the policy paper for the regular and progressive increases in the fuel levy to achieve acceptable levels.

Dr Anane expressed the optimism that the concept of commercialization of roads had been widely accepted saying; "Government is also pursuing the promotion of participation of private capital in the provision and maintenance of road infrastructure. The Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Programme (SSATP) and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CENSAD) Ministerial conferences have recognized this, Dr Anane said.

Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, in a speech read for him said the Government allocation to the road sector rose from 87.7 billion cedis in 2001 to 428 billion cedis in 2005.

He said overall investment for the period was 1.2 trillion cedis including donor support.

Mr Baah-Wiredu agreed to an increase in the road maintenance levies.

The three-day workshop is to come out with mechanisms for enhancing the collection and management of road funds in Africa and recommend modalities for improving road networks that would ensure increase in intra-Africa trade.