Provision of infrastructure has been successful - President Kufuor

Accra, Jan. 4, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday said his Government's effort at developing infrastructure in the country during the last four years had been successful.

President Kufuor said the success could be seen in the building of roads; Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) development; enhanced energy supply and improvement in rail and mass transportation and at the ports and harbours.

On roads, President Kufuor said the government constructed or improved on 3,350 kilometres of feeder roads in the rural areas each year.

Over 333.6 billion cedis had also been spent on routine maintenance activities during the period under review.

President Kufuor said the rural aspect of the infrastructure policy was having far-reaching positive impact on agricultural production throughout the country.

He said: "With respect to our roads, the days when some parts of the country remained inaccessible are fast becoming a thing of the past."

On urban road works, President Kufuor said the Government earmarked 27 major trunk roads for construction.

Four of them had been completed while the remaining, including work on three main arterial roads - Accra - Aflao; Accra - Yamoransa and Accra - Kumasi were at various stages of completion.

Six bridges had been completed and work on the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange was nearing completion.

President Kufuor noted that due to the massive road developments, which formed part of his Administration's five priority areas, commercial and social interactions within the country were steadily being enhanced.

On Ports and Railways, President Kufuor said the vigorous activity being pursued in the sub sector would let Ghana become a preferred entry port for her immediate land-lock neighbours.

He said so far rehabilitation work had started including the extension and dredging of Quay Two at the Tema Port to accommodate very big container vessels.

He said about 162 hectares had also been acquired for the Boankra Inland Port, which is to help to decongest the Tema and Takoradi Ports to facilitate the handling of the rapidly increasing volumes of trade with the land-lock countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

President Kufuor announced that within the past four years the volume of trade had jumped from 68,000 tons to a current level of more than 800,000 tons.

In the Railway Sector, he said the long-over due resuscitation had begun. Government had secured a five million dollar loan for the rehabilitation of the 30-kilometer Accra-Tema Rail Line while it was also studying various proposals for the sector's total rehabilitation. On mass transportation President Kufuor said the broken-down system, which the present Government inherited, had now been revived and was growing steadily.

Currently, the sector boasted of a fleet of more than 500 buses, which were operational in all the Metropolitan Areas as well as the Cape Coast and Sunyani Municipalities.

On the average, four million people patronise the services of the busses, monthly, President Kufuor said.