Bolgatanga, May 29, GNA - Participants at a forum on financing road maintenance held in Bolgatanga have stressed the need to increase road levy to enable government to undertake regular and quality maintenance of roads.

The forum organized by the Road Fund Management Board under the theme "Financing Road Maintenance" aimed at soliciting views on how to improve upon the road fund and the need to pay levies to the sector. It attracted participants from the Ghana Highway Authority, GPRTU, contractors, MTTU and Municipal and District Chief executives. Participants noted that the present levy on roads was insignificant and could not address the problem of road maintenance. They suggested that road levies derived from diesel and petrol, vehicle licensing fees, road users' fees, bridge and ferry tolls and international transit be increased.

They also suggested to the government to compel vehicle insurance companies to contribute to road funding.

Dr Richard Anane, Minister of Transportation, said increasing the road levy would assist government to address the persistent problem of inadequate financial resources to maintain roads.

"A good road network will surely promote and accelerate socio-economic activity and development, hence reduces poverty," he said.

Dr Anane said studies conducted from 2004 to 2005 showed that the completion and maintenance of road network in the country had resulted in 20 per cent increase in trips to hospitals, 65 per cent lowering of cost of travelling to market centres, 45 per cent reduction in cost of travelling to welfare facilities and 44 per cent reduction in travel time.

He said the cost of road construction and its subsequent maintenance required huge finance that the country's annual budget provision and support received from development partners could not cater for.

Dr Anane said revenue generated from 2000 to 2007 by the road fund was 577.6 million Ghana cedis which could only cater for 60 per cent of road maintenance needs.

He said the government had to secure a loan to meet payment due contractors from 2007 up to March 2008.

Dr Anane said the government was also exploring other financial sources such as issuing bonds on the stock exchange and to also build, operate and transfer and public/private partnership arrangements on roads.

Mr. Alhassan Samari, Upper East Regional Minister, reiterated the need for the increment of the road levy and said last year's floods in the region damaged a lot of the roads that needed to be rehabilitated.