24 new road contracts will soon be added to the already ongoing construction of 52 road projects in the Upper East Region ,says the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwesi Amoaku Attah during a working visit he made to the region.
These additional toad projects will be funded through the Ghana Road Fund and expected to be completed within six weeks.
Mr. Amoaku Attah said “Ghana Highways Authority will construct a total length of 55.7km, Department of Urban Roads will construct a total length of 78.4km and Department of Feeder Roads will also construct a total length of 69.5km. This constitutes an additional 5.4 percent of roads to be constructed in the Upper East Region”.
Though the award of these projects have been justified by the roads minister, some road expects including the Department of the Ghana Highways Authority hold the view that such roads are planned projects for the future and cannot be executed within the time frame as stipulated by the minister.
Mr. Philip Samini, Upper East Regional Director of the Ghana Highways Authority who spoke on A1 News in these new projects said “One can’t tell when they will be completed just like death that one can’t determine when he/she will die”.
But some residents of Bolgatanga have raised doubts about the promises and directives given by the roads minister because of previous experiences.
Atiah Roland, told A1 News that “Per what I have heard from the minister, I doubt the 52 roads will even be completed before 2020. It is sad, but politicians now believe that the only way they can get votes from us is to tell lies to our faces if not so, a nursery child will not even take what the minister has said seriously”.
Another resident Boniface Azure said “It is because we the people of Upper East have rated ourselves so cheap reasoned these politicians can come and say anything they like. If not that, why will we allow this clear lies said by the minister to even sink into our ears to the extent that party faithful will be defending him on the radio”.
John Atinga added that “like the bitumen surfacing of Tilli – Binaba feeder road which has been awarded to Baa-Ntima Gh.Ltd has been abandoned”.
Meanwhile, A1 News checks have revealed that though some of the ongoing 52 projects have reached some level of completion, some of the contractors have abandoned the sites.
