MAHAMA APPEALS TO GHANAIANS TO ACCEPT NEW ROAD TOLLS

Vice President John Mahama has appealed to Ghanaians to accept the new road and bridge tolls announced by government recently, to help generate the needed funds to rehabilitate or reconstruct the poor road networks in the country.

“You would agree with me that all these works require substantial amounts of money, and government derives all its income from taxes and levies. This has, therefore, necessitated the recent increase in roads and bridges tolls, in order to mobilise additional revenue in support of the rehabilitation and maintenance of our roads. I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to the general public, to support this patriotic effort to build a better Ghana,” he said.

The Vice President made the appeal and disclosure when he launched the commencement of the rehabilitation works on 53.11 kilometres of road networks within the Tema and Ashaiman metropolis in Tema last Friday.

H. E. John Mahama noted that GH¢28,994,129.92, which was the cost of the project, would be borne by the government.

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Joe Gidisu, revealed that only 30% of the entire 1,331 kilometres of the total road network, made up of 572km of paved and 759 km unpaved roads within the Tema Metropolis, was in good shape.

He said out of the 53.11km road under construction, 20.10km would be given an asphaltic surface to bring the total distance of the asphaltic road network in the Tema Metropolis to 38.10km and 33.01km would be bitumen surface sealed.

“The project will also include the long asphaltic overlay of the Central Business District (CBD) in Tema, which is 12.3km.”

Other roads are the CBD, Baba Yara, Republic and Padmore roads, and include the rehabilitation of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) road, rehabilitation of Kpone main road (6.5km), rehabilitation of Ashaiaman-Zeenu road (4.5km), rehabilitation of Tema Beach road (5.30km), partial reconstruction of Meridian roads (5.30km), upgrading or Lashibi and Klagon (8.5km) and rehabilitation of traffic lights throughout the metropolis.

He emphasised the need for all Ghanaians to accept the increment in roads and bridges tolls, because the road fund, which is expected to be used to ensure the maintenance of our roads, was being used for other purposes.

“Presently, the road fund is servicing a loan facility that was taken from SSNIT in 2007. We believe the increment would facilitate the repayment of this loan, as well as support more of our road maintenance works.”

He appealed to contractors who would be working on these new projects, to adhere to the quality specifications, since anything short of this, will not be tolerated. The Vice President, before launching the commencement of the projects, inspected the ongoing road construction of the Kpone-Kpone Barrier stretch of the road, as well as the Kpone-VALCO roundabout.