Parliament Speaks On Roads Construction

Members of the Parliamentary Select Committees on Roads and Transport, last Friday recommended to the Ministry of Roads and Transport to engage the services of qualified and efficient engineers and personnel to ensure effective supervision and monitoring of road being constructed in the country.
   

They said road construction was capital intensive and needed effective monitoring and supervision to ensure that capital invested in that sector was not wasted.
   

The members led by their chairman, Mr Albert Kwaku Obbin, Member of Parliament (MP) for Prestea-Huni Valley, made the recommendation, after they inspected works on roads in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem and Mfantseman municipalities, to end their week-tour of the Central Region.
     

They inspected the surfacing of the 4.7 km Komenda-Junction, 3.75km Ataabadze-Junction-Ankwanda, 15.2 km Abrem-Agona-Efutu and 4.6km Mankessim town roads estimated to cost GH¢4,128,239.21.
     

The committee urged the Ministry to expedite the processing and approval of certificates of claims put in by contractors. The members said at most of the sites visited, the contractors had either suspended or abandoned work due to the lack of cash flow and stressed that it was not a healthy development.
     

The members commended contractors in the region for the good work they have done so far.  They said work on roads under construction in the region were about 60 percent complete and said if the contractors were paid their claims early enough, they might have completed work on schedule.
     

They however expressed concern about the lack of a viable stone quarry in the  region and appealed to the private sector to invest in stone quarry, since the government would be constructing more roads in the country, considering the approval of the 15km of roads for each district.     

Alhaji Amadu Seidu, MP for Yapei-Kusawgu and ranking member, expressed concern about encroachment of land designated for roads and urged organisations working in the road sector to collaborate with the district assemblies to address the situation.
     

Alhaji Seidu expressed dissatisfaction about the quality of some of the roads, which did not have road signs and markings resulting in lorry accidents.
     

Mr Samuel Obodai, Deputy Central Regional Minister, appealed to the committee to ensure effective supervision and monitoring of roads under construction.  He called on the committee to as a matter of urgency ensure that roads in Assin North roads were tarred saying apart from the Cape Coast- Kumasi road, not even a kilometre of road in the district had been tarred.
     

Mr Kofi Boama-Djan central regional director of highways on behalf of the road agencies commended the committee for visiting the region and appealed to the committee to take the issues of lack of qualified engineers and logistics seriously with the ministry of roads and transports.
   

In all the committee inspected more than 22 urban roads, feeder roads and highways in eight districts in the central regional and are expected to visit the region again in Septembers when most of the contractors are expected to complete their work.