Government had earlier complained that it inherited an 11.6 billion Ghana cedi debt in the road sector from the Mahama administration, hence there was no money to fix faulty roads or construct new ones.

“The debt overhang in the Ministry is huge; close to GH¢ 11.6 billion in commitments, all contracts put together and that is big,” Anthony Karbo, a deputy Minister of Roads told Citi News in August.

[contextly_sidebar id=”GO0pTr6dCrlmWqiKBr7fewm467bIgOUg”]In the latest development however, the Ministry of Roads and Highways in a public notice, announced that it has started receiving bids for the patching of potholes as well as sectional repairs on the 253 trunk roads nationwide.

“The Ministry of Roads and Highways, acting through the Ghana Highway Authority, invites sealed bids from eligible bidders i.e. MRH Classes A3-A4, to carry out routine maintenance works listed hereunder,” the Ministry stated.

Under the project, the Central and Ashanti Regions have the highest number of beneficiary roads with 52 slots each, followed by the Eastern Region which has 42 roads earmarked to be fixed.

Brong Ahafo Region has the third highest list earmarked roads of 24, Western Region, 16, Northern Region, 15, Volta Region, 15, Greater Accra, 14.

Upper West and Upper East Regions have the lowest number of roads under the project which are 12 and 11 respectively.

Gov’t conducts roll call of road construction companies

This comes on the back of moves by government to compile the list of road construction companies in the country.

The Ministry of Roads about two weeks ago, began “compiling names of prospective companies who have the expertise to undertake works in respect of the following activities: Road line marketing, construction of pedestrian guard rails, construction of crush barriers, maintenance of green areas, pot-hole patching and vegetation control.”

Osafo Maafo laments inflated cost of road projects

The NPP government had accused the former administration of awarding road contracts through restricted tendering.

Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, also on Monday, September 25, 2017, bemoaned what he calls corrupt practices within the country’s road sector.

According to him, some road contractors intentionally inflate the cost of roads, adding that, such practices have had adverse effect on the country’s funding sources.

Speaking at an event to officially commence the upgrade of the Accra-Tema Motorway on Monday, Osafo- Maafo said the cost of road construction in Ghana must conform to international standards.

“If you go to the score card of the Ghana Institution of Engineers, they describe the sources of our poor performance in the road sector. They talk about lack of adequate funds, technical know-how, but they also talk about corruption. It’s something we should also pay attention to. We must have value for money in the road sector,” he added.

Below is the full list of roads captured under the maintenance project:

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Gov’t to award contracts for repair of 253 ‘bad’ roads [Full list] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

When you hear the name Prestea, how does it sound in your ears? A beautiful golden city with shining lights and good roads? Well, in the town’s current state, that’s a big illusion! Prestea and its adjourning communities are home to one of the most terrible roads in the country. What a wow!

As I said earlier, the district at large is rich in gold. In 2016 alone, Golden Star Resources produced and sold 23,893 ounces of gold from the belly of the soil. That comes with some pretty cool taxes to the Ghanaian government for development. The usual direct and indirect taxes from the inhabitants in the districts, added to taxes paid to the state by registered small scale miners and all other monies, puts the district ahead of many districts financially across the country.

But apart from the only trunk road from Tarkwa – Bogoso to Ayamfuri, which construction completed in the last quarter of 2016, no other road in this supposed rich district is tarred.

Let’s start from Bogoso. Bogoso, another ‘golden City’, is the capital of the Prestea Huni-Valley District. Until recently when the Tarkwa-Bogoso Ayamfuri trunk road was completed, the capital itself had its main high streets slapped with potholes of different sizes.

When it rains slightly, all that is seen is mud. That construction has sort of elevated the image of Bogoso. But, it is from this portion that the beginning of a sad story is told of Prestea.

Less than 50 meters away from the Bogoso High street towards Prestea, are many unfriendly potholes on the road. The 23.4km stretch will take you some 50 minutes to an hour to travel amidst ‘dancing’.

This bad road network certainly comes at a cost to both drivers and passengers. For the drivers, mostly Taxis, you would have to change your car almost every year, if you really want to stay in business. Ask anybody from Prestea and its environs the number of 2014 to 2016 registered taxis that are still in operation in 2017; and how many of the passengers are willing to board those cars. Many of those cars have broken down and have been parked.

Those in operation are just too uncomfortable for use on that rickety road from Bogoso to Prestea. As a result, majority of the cars you see on that 23km distance are 2017 registered taxis.

That is for the road from Bogoso to Prestea. Let’s now come to the roads in Prestea Township.

In fact, it’s a shame and an indictment on central and local government authorities in this area. That a town that sits on plenty wealth has terrible high streets roads with intertwining potholes. It’s just a paradox of plenty, no matter how one looks at it. Here too, it gets worse with the slightest rainfall. Brothers and sisters, it’s an unpleasant and a disgraceful moment to be in Prestea when it rains. Mud is found everywhere, including the main high street to their lorry terminal. In fact, Prestea roads cannot be described by words, in view of what leaves that soil annually.

Currently, some works are being done on the town roads, but wait, what the hell is wrong with this country? What is the use of the training we have given engineering students at Legon and KNUST all these years, if we still construct such shameful 5th class roads in a strategic area like Prestea?

It’s shockingly terrifying! No! Help me here, what determines the type or quality of road for a particular area? The load that plies it? The profitability of the road, the intelligence of the road users, colour or race of users or what?

See, a certified popular contractor is engaged to bring some sanity to the roads in Prestea. It started somewhere in the latter part of 2015. It will interest you to know that 8 months after some snail pace work was done on some roads in parts of the town, potholes are everywhere. It’s appalling, so the contractor and the person who sat in his comfortable office to prescribe this 5th class road to be done in Prestea, ‘how be market’? God bless you!

Friends, I will not talk about the roads to Huni Valley, Oppong Valley, Nsuta where the recent collapsed Galamsey pit disaster occurred. Just see below this picture for yourself.

Before I rest my case; let me say thank you for reading, but share it with the contractor and the highways person responsible for Prestea roads. Tell him his good plans have stuck in his head for far too long.

Tell him the comfort in his air-conditioned car and office are from the monthly sweat of a Ghanaian, who believed in him to turn things around.

Tell him to act immediately, for previous directors behaved same until their retirement with questionable conscience. Tell him this old ways of doing things is uncharacteristic of people who want results. God is watching us all!

Lest I forget, Prestea is not in this alone; many of Ghana’s mining towns suffer same fate from Tarkwa to Obuasi, to Akwatia and others.

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By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Obrempong writes: Prestea; a town of gold with ugly roads appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking at Kyebi as Okyeman marked this year’s Ohum Festival, the overlord of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Authority said it was important for government to ensure that Ghanaians are relieved from their hardships.

Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin lauded President Akufo-Addo’s free Senior High School education policy, stating the policy will ensure that the youth are educated.

He however pleaded to the president to ensure the construction of all deplorable roads in the Eastern Region to help facilitate and enhance trading activities in the region.

“Every community has the same, if not all of some of the problem here in Okyeman. We plead with you to fix the roads in the Eastern Region especially Okyeman. The roads here are really bad and that is what we use for all our domestic and economic activities.”

“We congratulate you for your free SHS policy, it is a great initiative to ensure that poverty does not hinder anyone who wants to go to school. We also know that across the world, countries have developed not because of the resources that they have, but the knowledge they have applied to the resources that they have. If the success of a country was determined by their resources, Africa would have been the most powerful. We have everything but we are still poor. I believe that in your tenure things will change if you add knowledge to the resources that we have, we will really go far,” he added.

The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, who also spoke at the ceremony said his government has put in place measures to fully utilize the resources of the country for the benefit of all.

“Ghana is not a poor country; it is a country full of resources. We have plans in place and very soon everyone will see the rich potential that we had all these while. This will benefit everyone. I will say that we will work on the road soon. God has blessed me too, every appointee I have chosen to govern the country is intelligent. All I know is that a government has come to change the fortunes of Ghanaians for the better; that is the Akufo-Addo government. I need your prayers to help me achieve all that I have promised,” he added.

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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Fulfill your promises – Okyenhene to Akufo-Addo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

They say due to the bad nature of the roads they are unable to transport their farm produce to the market and they are also forced to pay exorbitant fares for transport.

They made this appeal when the assemblyman for Chamba South, Bernard Jagri organized a communal labour to fill some deep potholes on the road.

“It is affecting us so much to the extent that commercial activities have come to a stand still. Farmers are unable to carry their farm produce to the market for sale, besides cars carrying passengers on the road charge exorbitant fares looking at the nature of the road, avoidable accidents happen on the road every time because of the nature of the potholes, road users tried to dodge the potholes resulting in unnecessary accidents, motorists knocking down commuters and sometimes vehicles running into each other. I am therefore calling on the government through the Nanumba North District Assembly to come to our aid and the government to put pressure on the contractor to expedite work on the road. I also want to call the Hon Minister for Defence who is also the MP for the area to add his voice so that work on the road will be done quickly ”

He also called on the Defence Minister who is also the MP for the area, Dominic Nitiwul to do something about the situation. He urged the government to impress upon the contractor to expedite the construction of the road as it has been awarded on contract.

Some drivers who use the road told Citi News how they always have to visit mechanics every time they ply the road.

“We have to always visit the mechanic anytime we use the road because our vehicles always breakdown and as a result we sometimes do no want to use the road at all. We are urging our authorities to fix the roads for us. This is raining season and potholes have been created on the road, if a driver is not careful and falls into them it is likely to cause accidents.”

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By: Mohammed Aminu M Alabira/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post N/R: Chamba residents cry over deplorable roads appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Aduom told Citi News that the Ghana Road Fund is so depleted that it will take some 10 years to pay for already awarded contracts.

[contextly_sidebar id=”aS02xJewY7Y4yZyPW6zmxts4t5874Q47″]“The Ministry secured a loan of GHc1.2 billion from UBA. The repayment is such that every quarter, the Ghana road fund has to pay GHc206 million. Our projection is that for every quarter the fuel levy provides about GHc240 million to the fund so when you take 206 from 240, then we are left with about 34. So it means that less than GHc40 million every quarter that the road fund will get to finance road projects. So the predicament is that   we will not get enough funds to pay for all numerous ongoing projects,” he added.

According to the deputy Minister, the situation has been worsened by the former government’s decision to award numerous road contracts in the last quarter of its administration.

“The GHc600 million that he [the former road minister] said was in the fund, before he left office he approved project payments of over GHc300 million,” Mr. Aduom added.

Demo against bad roads

There have been a series of demonstrations in parts of the country against the bad nature of roads.

Commercial drivers within Ablekuma Manhyia, Oduma and Nsakina in the Greater Accra Region, in May 2017 took to the streets to protest against the state of their roads.

Some of the drivers in the course of the protest blocked the main road linking those areas claiming that it had been in a deplorable state for close to ten years now.

The aggrieved drivers burnt tyres on the road and prevented workers and students from plying the route.

Residents of Battor, the capital of the North Tongu District in the Volta Region, also hit the streets in June 2017 to protest and demand the construction of roads in the area.

Residents say the roads are in a deplorable state and become unmotorable after heavy rains.

They say the situation is affecting education and businesses in the area.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Road Fund coffers ‘empty’ – Deputy Minister appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Residents say the roads are in a deplorable state and become unmotorable after heavy rains. They say the situation is affecting education and businesses in the area.

Addressing the media during the demonstration, Convener of the Concerned Youth of Battor [the group that led the demonstration] Amegbanu Wisdom, said motorist, as well as commuters, struggle to ply the roads, especially during the rainy season.

“Today we have taken a bold step towards becoming active citizens of this town of ours. Battor township link roads have become so bad over the years that commuters, students and workers find it difficult to use them for their daily activities especially when it rains. The few cases of heavy rains this year have rendered the roads worse, if not unmotorable.”

He lamented that several efforts to get the District Assembly to fix the roads had also proved futile.

“The district assembly has over the years turned a blind eye on the deteriorating situation at Bator where its headquarters is situated. On 5^th May 2017, the Concerned Youth of Battor wrote to the district assembly to as a matter of urgency to fix the roads because pupils could not go to school as a result of bad link roads. Children could easily get drowned in ponds that have developed on the main road leading to the Battor Senior high school and other schools in the area. The situation is affecting businesses in the town as guest houses located in these areas are losing customers due to the nature of the roads. Meanwhile, Battor generates the highest revenue for the assembly and the assembly could easily construct the roads,” Amegbanu Wisdom added.

Mr. Amegbanu also said efforts to petition the Member of Parliament of the area, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and the Paramount Chief to intervene have also not yielded any positive results.

The group is however calling on authorities to as a matter of urgency step in to quickly resolve their grievances.

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By: King Norbert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Battor residents demonstrate over bad roads [Photos] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.