There is a possibility that the contractor working on the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom road in the Upper East Region will return to the site in October this year. The Brazilian construction firm Queiroz Galvao MI in February 2024 packed all its equipment out of the site without briefing the Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu.
A source with the Ministry of Roads and Highways at the time said the contractor became angry and packed his machines out of the region due to the government’s failure to pay him despite the numerous requests he made.
But the New Patriotic Party’s Upper East Regional Chairman, Lawyer Anthony Namoo has given a hint that the contractor is likely going to resume work on the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom road next month.
“Myself and Hanan [Buffer Stock CEO], we went to visit the Galvao people and they said hopefully in October, that’s next month, they are coming to continue the work. Yes, we went to the office [and] the Managing Director told us that, the management that was there, they delayed on the road project so they sacked all of them and a new person has taken over”
The chairman, Lawyer Namoo made this announcement at the Gbewaa College of Education campus in the Pusiga district on Sunday, September 10, 2023, when the party met to acclaim Alhaji Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, the Chief Executive Officer of the Buffer Stock Company Limited as the NPP parliamentary candidate for the Pusiga constituency.
The Upper East Regional NPP chairman lashed out at the opposition NDC for its failure to construct the road even though it used to win all 7 constituencies along the Bolga-Bawku stretch of the road.
The 117-kilometre road passes through 7 constituencies in the Upper East Region; Bolgatanga Central, Bolgatanga East, Nabdam, Zebilla, Binduri, Bawku Central, and Pusiga. Out of these constituencies, the NPP currently occupies only the Binduri seat while the NDC occupies the rest of the 6.
Works on the road were awarded in 2016 under the erstwhile John Mahama regime but stalled. The current government under President Akufo-Addo re-awarded the road to a Brazilian firm, Queiroz Galvao MI in 2017 with a revised contract sum of 127,229,014. 28 euros. The funding agency for the project is the Government of Ghana/Investec Bank Limited and HSBC Bank PLC, UK.
The Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom road is an important transportation route in the Upper East region, and for that matter Ghana, connecting neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, and Niger. The poor state of the road was a major concern for residents and hindered economic activities in the area.
The resumption of work on the road, if what the regional chairman said came to pass, will be a significant development for the region, as it will improve transportation and boost economic activities. Lawyer Anthony Namoo emphasised the government’s commitment to improving infrastructure in the region and urged residents of the Upper East Region to support the contractor when work resumes.
The NPP chairman also assured the people of the region that other development projects, such as the construction of the Agenda 111 hospital project are being actively pursued by the government. He admonished the people of the region to renew the mandate of the NPP in the 2024 elections to improve the living conditions of the people in the region.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah|Pusiga|Ghana
