Out of the total kilometerage of 72, 000 of roads in Ghana, only 39% is considered motorable leaving the remaining 61% between fair and poor; that is according to the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwesi Amoako-Atta.
He said the government is therefore overwhelmed by the deplorable road network in the country and the high demands from various sector leaders for the rehabilitation of those roads.
Addressing a gathering of chiefs and people of the Upper East Region Wednesday October 4, during a working visit of President Nana Akufo-Addo, the Roads and Highways Minister regretted that between two and five years, contractors in the country including those in the Upper East Region were not paid for the works they did. This he said resulted in the worsening road network in the country. He however disclosed that since the NPP assumed the reigns of the country in January this year, over one billion Ghana cedis has been paid to contractors.
Mr. Amoako-Atta further stated that: “Everybody is crying for roads but the nation is overwhelmed by the deplorable nature of road condition that we have in our nation. Out of the total kilometerage of 72, 000 of road networks that we have, only 39% is considered to be motorable and to be good. The rest of the 61% or so is between fair and poor with a greater proportion leaning towards poor. So we have a lot of work to do. So you will ask yourself, all the noise that we were hearing about road construction, all the loans that we contracted, where did the money go? And if I have to concentrate on this region, a lot of the road works were suspended because for almost five years, between two to five years, contractors in this country including those in this region were not paid for including even genuine jobs that had been undertaken by them.”
Mr. Amoako-AttaHe also announced that approval has been given to 417 kilometers of roads which were affected by the 2015 and 2016 floods to be worked on under the periodic maintenance project while all the contractors in the region who abandoned their works because they were not paid are back to sites and works are ongoing. These contractors include Myturn, Mawums and the others.
Again, the minister announced that Feeder Roads Department last week started giving approval to contractors in the region to undertake maintenance of deplorable roads totaling 1,360 kilometers while a total of 20 kilometers of Bolgatanga Township roads are being overlaid.
