According to Mr. Mahama, such punishments will serve as a deterrent to contractors who offer substandard services.

He observed that there are instances where road projects which are supposed to have a lifespan of between 15 to 25 years only give away after two or three years.

[contextly_sidebar id=”8Z4XqQJmSTkYAkaLxHzWcfkEILcUlgod”]“…If we do not start to blacklist contractors in the country, then we have nowhere to go. There are asphalt roads which are being constructed in this country, and the minimum years for asphalts roads are supposed to be about 15 to 25 years but now we have asphalt roads which are just lasting for three to four years and they are breaking. This is because the contractors are hiding under the cover of defect liability period. After one year the contractor is paid his final certificate, he walks off, the road gets spoilt, and nobody charges that contractor,” Mr. Mahama said on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday.

He made the remark while commenting on why he thinks concrete roads are not the solutions to Ghana’s fast deteriorating road infrastructure.

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia over the weekend said Cabinet has approved the construction of roads in the country with concrete, adding that they will use the Tema Steel works road as a pilot project.

But Mr. Mahama shot down the decision saying aside being too expensive, concrete roads are also difficult to repair.

“When constructing a kilometer of concrete road, let’s just say the last layer that will cost you about GHc1.85 million. Let’s say you are taking 7 meters per width by 1000 meters. The asphalt will cost you about GHc1.3 million, that’s the final layer. But all the components underneath the concrete or asphalt are the same. The concrete roads or the asphalts are only the finished roads. The methodology of any road construction right from the subgrade to formation, to sub-base to base, that is where the meat lies. If you don’t compact your sub-base and natural base well and you put the concrete on the road, however extensive it is, it will fail. Have we thought about the noise between the track and concrete in the vicinities? Have we thought about the wear and tear of the tyres that wears easily?”

Mr. Mahama also explained that, it is time-consuming undertaking maintenance works on concrete roads saying “it creates a lot of discomfort.”

He said “when you are repairing the concrete [road], you need days and weeks before you can bring traffic back whereas when you are doing repair works on asphalt roads, you’d be done in few days.”

–

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

The post Blacklist contractors who carry out shoddy works – Engineer appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, such roads aside being too expensive are also difficult to repair.

“When constructing a kilometer of concrete road, let’s just say the last layer that will cost you about GHc1.85 million. Let’s say you are taking 7 meters per width by 1000 meters. The asphalt will cost you about GHc1.3 million, that’s the final layer. But all the components underneath the concrete or asphalt are the same,” he said on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday.

[contextly_sidebar id=”OhPM8UKLjw9BRZJ5jHbGmkdeVmGlqIU1″]Mr. Abduallai’s comment comes on the back of Cabinet’s approval of a proposal for concrete roads in Ghana.

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia over the weekend, said government will pilot the project with the Tema Steel Works road.

“Why is it that we are not building our roads with concrete and rather doing all this asphalt, bitumen stuff which gets washed away after about 2 seasons. If you look at Tema Motorway which was built with concrete and it is lasting for over 50 and so that sort of got me thinking and we started that discussion. It’s a simple idea but it’s full of wisdom. I checked and I realized that even in India, since 2014 they have a policy to build only concrete roads because it works out much cheaper. Cabinet did decide last week that we should move towards concrete roads as a country. And they are going to do the Tema Steel work road as the pilot road for the concrete roads in this country. It’s a lot of wisdom,” he added.

But the Civil Engineer said the concrete roads will fail if road contractors are not penalized for shoddy works.

“The concrete roads or the asphalts are only the finished roads. The methodology of any road construction right from the subgrade to formation, to sub-base to base, that is where the meat lies. If you don’t compact your sub-base and natural base well, and you put the concrete on the road, however extensive it is, it will fail.”

Blacklist contractors who construct shoddy roads

“…If we do not start to blacklist contractors in the country, then we have nowhere to go. There are asphalt roads which are being constructed in this country, and the minimum years for asphalts roads are supposed to be about 15 to 25 years, but now we have asphalt roads which are just lasting for three to four years and they are breaking. This is because the contractors are hiding under the cover of defect liability period. After one year, the contractor is paid his final certificate, he walks off, the road gets spoilt, and nobody charges that contractor.”

Mr. Abdullai also explained that, concrete roads might not be too good for the health of cars.

“Have we thought about the noise between the track and concrete? Have we thought about the wear and tear of the tyres that wears easily,” Mr. Abdullai asked saying he won’t recommend for government to go that tangent.

“When you are about to do a maintenance on concrete, it is time consuming and creates a lot of discomfort. When you repair the concrete, you need days and weeks before you can bring traffic back whereas when you are doing repair works on an asphalt road, you’d be done in few days,” he added.

–

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

The post Concrete roads too expensive – Engineer appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, they have realized that it is less expensive and long lasting as compared to asphalted or bitumen roads which give out after a few seasons rain.

“Why is it that we are not building our roads with concrete and rather doing all this asphalt, bitumen stuff which gets washed away after about 2 seasons. If you look at Tema Motorway which was built with concrete and it is lasting for over 50 and so that sort of got me thinking and we started that discussion. It’s a simple idea but it’s full of wisdom. I checked and I realized that even in India, since 2014 they have a policy to build only concrete roads because it works out much cheaper.”

“So I said let me bring this to my bosses and we have been discussing this as recently as last week in Parliament. Cabinet did decide last week that we should move towards concrete roads as a country. And they are going to do the Tema Steel work road as the pilot road for the concrete roads in this country. It’s a lot of wisdom,” he added.

Dr. Bawumia made the disclosure while speaking at the dedication of a temple for Harvest Chapel International Ministeries in Accra on Saturday.

This comes on the back of a call by the Ghana Charismatic Bishops’ Conference in March 2017 for government to build roads with concrete citing the Tema Motorway which they claimed has withstood the test of time which is still strong after so many decades of its construction.

–

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

The post Tema Steel works road to be constructed with concrete – Bawumia appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This was revealed by the Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who said the first pilot for the construction will be done on the Tema Steel Works road.

[contextly_sidebar id=”IuHDwqmfDxmsuGrdwhyZACXepaDM9a5w”]According to him, the government believes constructing concrete roads will save the country from spending more, as compared to the construction of asphalt and bitumen roads.

The Ghana Charismatic Bishops’ Conference earlier this year in a document it said was God’s prophetic word to Ghana proposed among other things that government moved away from the construction of asphaltic roads to concrete roads which were cost effective, more durable and long-lasting.

It also urged the government to increase road tolls to a flat rate of $1 as an effective measure of raising revenue for various road projects in the country.

The Vice President, Dr. Bawumia, who took a keen interest in the proposal said at the dedication of a Harvest International Ministries temple in Accra on Saturday, July 15, that government has held many discussions on the matter and has involved Parliament for the discussion.

He added that cabinet took a decision last week to make the country move away from asphalt roads to the construction of concrete roads.

“Why is it that we are not building our roads with concrete and rather doing all this asphalt, bitumen stuff which gets washed away after about 2 seasons. If you look at Tema motorway which was built with concrete, it is lasting almost 50 years. We started that discussion, it is a simple idea but full of wisdom. I checked and realized that in India, they have the policy to build only concrete road and it works out to be cheaper. We have been discussing this as recently as last week in Parliament”.

“Cabinet did decide last week that we should move towards concrete roads as a country and they are going to do the Tema steel works roads as the pilot roads for concrete roads in this country,” Dr. Bawumia said.

The Vice President had earlier given an indication that government will seriously consider the suggestion at a similar address at Lighthouse Chapel’s 2017 Good Friday Miracle Service in April this year.

He said, “We will consider doing this and it will be transformational because as for laying concrete, we can all do it in Ghana. You don’t need to get anybody to come and lay concrete for you. Any mason from any village can come and lay the concrete and go on.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Bawumia has commended Churches in the country for their various efforts in helping the government provide quality education and healthcare to citizens.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Cabinet approves proposal for concrete road construction appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking at the Lighthouse Chapel’s 2017 Good Friday Miracle Service, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, described the proposal as “pure wisdom” and noted that the Ministry Roads and Transport were undertaking the comparative analysis and costing of the proposal.

[contextly_sidebar id=”djFfGmFzngvvFHCeol3kWdBr4Rpx9vwE”]In March, the Ghana Charismatic Bishops’ Conference urged the government to increase road tolls and further suggested that the proceeds be used to improve roads.

According to the proposal, this new road network was to be built using concrete; specifically 10 inches of concrete with the width of three lanes 12 meters wide, for several miles.

The group cited the Tema motorway as an example of a concrete road that has served Ghana for decades.

The Vice President concurred with the Ghana Charismatic Bishops’ Conference’s assessment, noting that “most of the other asphalt roads, after a year of rainfall, are gone.”

“We will consider doing this and it will be transformational because as for laying concrete, we can all do it in Ghana. You don’t need to get anybody to come and lay concrete for you. Any mason from any village can come and lay the concrete and go on,” Dr. Bawumia said.

He explained that, following the costing, government realized that a kilometre of a concrete road will cost $3.8 million and that of asphalt will cost $2.8 million.

But the concrete road will last for 40 years whilst the asphalt will last for only 10 years, he added.

“… So $3.8 million for 4o years and 2.8 for 10 years – the economics is very simple. So we are very excited and with the help of the Roads Ministry very soon we should be able to announce the new transformation in our road construction in Ghana,” Dr. Bawumia said.

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t considering concrete for road construction – Bawumia appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.