According to him, the government will encourage communities that come together and mobilize resources for the development of their local roads.

[contextly_sidebar id=”SJykFd2nhrNVXNwddMz9O5b7tWikLIEU”]Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Anthony Karbo said, “the real challenges we have had in this country, is that people feel like we are paying for bad roads, because everyone is whining. The motorway is deteriorating yet we are paying tolls, so to even discuss with the citizenry about this issue is a tricky situation. But I think that we have gotten to a point where we have to open up, have a national discussion about road financing going forward especially for major roads that we know that the volume of traffic and the number of tolls people can pay over a period can service the road and there will be regular maintenance, because it is a road that everybody is paying for.”

His comment comes on the back of a petition by the residents of Trassaco Valley in Accra asking the Roads Ministry to grant them tolled access to the Tema Motorway to avoid the frustrating traffic on other alternative routes leading to the Central Business District.

Their petition also touched on the bad nature of roads within the area.

But Anthony Karbo said the Trasacco Valley situation was a general problem facing most communities in the country.

“The status of roads in Ghana has been nothing to write home about for the past eight years,” he remarked

He narrated that after a number of residents approached him to complain about their road, he had advised them to put their concerns into writing and address them to the right authority.

“Those problems currently exist and we are working on it, first of all, if you look at the Trasacco end of the road, those who live in that area trying to get onto the motorway. You would have observed that the community is growing along the Motorway, and therefore there is the need for the entire redesign work to kick into accounts. How to get those people to pay tolls in order to join the Motorway, but doing so in a way that it doesn’t pose any safety situation [is the issue].”the deputy minister said.

Meanwhile, the residents have said they are ready to are ready to pay any tolls to get direct access to the Motorway from the community.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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