[ 2021-02-18 ]

Roads dualisation in offing - Minister designate assures
The Minister designate for Roads and Highways, Mr
Kwesi Amoako-Atta, has said the second
administration of President Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo will concentrate on the dualisation of
all major roads across the country to
significantly curb the carnage on those roads.
He said, for instance, that already work on the
Accra-Kumasi highway project was ongoing, being
executed by the China Water Company, while work
on the Accra-Takoradi highway was also on course.



He said the second area where the administration
would concentrate would be the construction of six
interchanges, including the four-tier Pokuase
Interchange, all of which were currently ongoing
simultaneously in the country.

“This is unprecedented in the history of the
country, and from the end of the first quarter of
this year, we are preparing to start three
interchanges in Kumasi -- the Suame Interchange,
the Ahodwo Interchange and the Oforikrom
Interchange,” he said.

Opening up Ghana

Taking his turn before the Appointments Committee
of Parliament (ACP) yesterday, Mr Amoako-Atta
said: “Mr Chairman, great efforts are being made
by the government to open up the country in terms
of road infrastructure and to build on the
dualisation of our roads to halt the carnage on
our roads in terms of accidents and the fatalities
that we suffer.”



The nominee spent more than four hours answering
questions bordering on the looming judgment debt
due to the cancellation of the Accra Intelligence
Traffic Management Project, road furniture to
promote road safety, road safety regulations, road
tolls, road construction in cocoa-growing areas,
payments to road contractors, state of roads and
the Road Fund, among others.

Inadequate funding

Mr Amoako-Atta, who is the MP for Atiwa West, told
the committee that in spite of the fact that road
construction was capital intensive, the sector had
not attracted adequate funding to bolster road
construction across the country.


He indicated that the road construction sector was
capital intensive and so less budgetary allocation
had slowed down efforts to improve roads across
the country.

“When we talk about GH¢1 billion for road
construction, it may sound big money, but in terms
of execution, it may not go far for that expense.
We are not getting enough to embark on road
construction in Ghana,” he said.



Payment of contractors

Mr Amoako-Atta acknowledged that payments to road
contractors had not been the best, but said the
government, with meagre resources, had done the
best for the road sector.

He said for the past three to four years, the
government had cumulatively paid contractors to
the tune of almost GH¢10 billion, but indicated
that “there are still outstanding amounts to be
paid”.

With the Road Fund plagued with challenges, he
pointed out that since 2017, the government had
not had the full use of the fund.

“This fund was mortgaged as far as October,
November 2016 for a loan from the UBA Bank at an
interest rate of 32 per cent. The fund has not
been available to the government and we have to
refinance that loan because the amount that was
taken was GH¢1.3 billion, the entire annual
accrual into the fund. We were able to bring the
interest rate down from 32 per cent to 21 per
cent, with a 12-month moratorium,” he added.

State of roads

Asked to give his personal view on the state of
roads in the country, Mr Amoako-Atta said Ghana
had a total road network around 80,000 kilometres,
out of which 217km was asphalt, for which only 23
per cent had been paid, with the remaining 77 per
cent at the gravel or earth state.

He said as of 2017, only 39 per cent of roads were
considered to be good, 32 per cent fair and 29 per
cent poor.

Capacity of local contractors

When the MP for Bodi, Mr Sampson Ahi, asked what
he (the nominee) had done in the last four years
to build the capacity of local road contractors to
compete with foreign contractors, the nominee said
it was pitiful that local contractors were not in
a position to compete for any international road
bidding.

He said while a lot had been done to build their
capacity, most Ghanaian contractors preferred to
remain individual contractors and did not want to
come together to pool resources for capital
intensive road construction projects.

“If they continue to operate as individuals, it
will be very difficult to build their capacity,”
he said.

He gave an assurance that as a way forward, the
ministry would ensure that 40 per cent of every
foreign contract the government signed would have
local content to allow technology transfer to
improve the technical know-how of local
contractors.

Road furniture

He said his ministry, through the Department of
Urban Roads, was responsible for the installation
of traffic lights in the cities and the regional
capitals to improve safety on the roads.

He added that his ministry was working with the
Ministry of Transport and the National Road Safety
Authority to promote street lighting, road line
markings, road signs and crash barriers to enhance
road safety.

Increasing toll fees

The nominee added that increasing the road tolls
paid by vehicles was one of the surest ways to
meet the demand for the rehabilitation and
maintenance of roads and the execution of new
constructions to improve infrastructure in
Ghana’s road sector.

He informed the committee that data available
showed that Ghana was the country where the lowest
toll rate was paid and urged the public to be
prepared to pay more to enjoy good roads.

“If I am given the approval, it’s one of the
things I am going to do immediately. There is
going to be a proposal to increase the toll rate,
and I am going to bring it to this House
[Parliament] for support,” he said.

Judgement debt

Responding to a question on the looming
$55-million judgement debt due to the cancellation
of a contract awarded to Beijing Everyway Traffic
and Lighting Technical Company Limited to develop
the Accra Intelligence Traffic Management Project,
he informed the committee that the ministry had
been served with a notice of arbitration.

Source - Graphic Online

... go Back