Parliament adopts Road and Transport C'ttee's Report

Accra, July 16, GNA - Parliament on Friday adopted the report of the Committee on Roads and Transport on the Ghana Road Fund Annual Report and Accounts for the year 2002.

The Committee's report said the vision of the Ghana Road Fund was to ensure the regular maintenance of Ghana's road network by the provision of adequate and sustainable resources for the financing of road projects, through efficient and effective management of the fund, with the view to improving the quality of Ghana's road network.

The Committee observed that the Report and Accounts for year 2002 indicated that the total net revenue generated into the Fund amounted to 409.9 billion cedis. This the report said showed positive variance of 12.6 billion cedis over the budgeted target of 397.3 billion cedis.

The Committee observed that for the year 2002, an estimated amount of 170.6 billion cedis was owed to road contractors for works executed, this balance was therefore transferred to the year 2003 to be paid out of the revenue that would accrue to the Fund in that year.

Meanwhile, an amount of 109.7 being arrears to contractors, which was brought forward into year 2002 was cleared during the year. This situation hinders the achievement of maintenance targets set by beneficiary agencies especially in the area of periodic maintenance.

The Committee urged the Ghana Road Fund Board to strengthened its mode of monitoring and supervision of funds disbursed by the Road Agencies.