The Minister of Roads and Highways, Francis Asenso-Boakye, has opined that the Akufo-Addo-led administration has an unparalleled record in the road sector.
He was responding to concerns raised by former President John Dramani Mahama over the state of some roads in the country.
Mr. Mahama has promised to conduct an audit of all road projects to determine if indeed the government had constricted over 12,000 kilometres of road.
The minister insisted that the government had invested a lot in the road sector.
He said this while addressing journalists at Tafo Station, Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region.
He announced the government’s intention to dualise the Kumasi-Tafo-Mampong road.
“The point must be made emphatically that between 2017 and the end of 2023, the Akufo-Addo and Bawumia administrations have constructed an impressive 12,830 km of roads compared to the 4,636 km achieved by the previous administration.”.
He stated that data from the World Bank shows Ghana’s road density—measured as kilometres of road per 100 square kilometres of land—exceeds the regional average.
“Ghana boasts 32.8 kilometres of road per 100 square kilometres, nearly double the African regional average of 17 kilometres. “This significant achievement is further complemented by our rural accessibility,” Hon. Asenso-Boakye said.
“Over the last seven years, a lot of investment has gone into road infrastructure, both paved and unpaved, to improve the riding quality of our roads,” he said.
.He added that six interchanges and 35 bridges have been completed nationwide.
“Currently, more than 10 interchanges and 50 bridges are at various stages of construction nationwide.
Indeed, during the president’s 2023 State of the Nation address, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo provided details of his administration’s achievement in the road sector.”
Mr. Asenso-Boakye indicated that currently, a national road network inventory is ongoing, with preliminary figures projecting that the road network size will reach 100,000 km by the end of the exercise.
The Minister said at the end of December 2016, before the current government assumed office, the road network in the country was 78,403 km.
“This, however, has shot up by 20 percent to 94,203 km by the end of 2023,” he noted.
He argued that the Aku-Addo-led government has an impressive improvement of Ghana’s road network condition to 44 percent good, 34 percent fair, and 22 percent poor as compared to the network condition before the Akufo-Addo and Bawumia administrations.
He claimed that during the former president’s era, the total road network size was 78,402 km.
“Of these, 39 percent were in good condition, 32 percent were in fair condition, and 29 percent were in poor condition.”
He said that while “this achievement reflected nearly three times the progress made by the previous administration within the same time-frame”, he said that there is still more work to be done,” adding that “our government remains committed to providing more roads to further enhance our nation’s infrastructure to meet the needs of the people.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
