Was the Ho dual carriage road construction started without a design?

Claim: The Sokode-Ho dual carriage road did not have a design before construction started in 2016.

Verdict: False. Data from the Volta Regional Department of Urban Roads indicate that before the road commenced in June 2016, a consultant to the project had presented a design for approval.

Full text

The Ho Dual carriage road, which was to be the first dual carriage road in the Volta Region, started in 2016. It comprises two main roads beginning from Sokode Etoe to Civic Center and Sokode Etoe through UHAS to Titrinu. The former is a 10.2-kilometre road, while the latter covers 10.5 kilometres. The contractors for the project were China No. 5 Railway construction and First sky construction.

The Sokode Etoe Civic centre road was to cost GHS 98m, while the Sokode Etoe through UHAS was to cost GHC 98m. The road construction was halted when the New Patriotic Party took power in 2016 but resumed in October 2018 after the road minister paid a working visit to the site.

The two main political parties, New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) ‘are at each other's throats’ over who has to take credit for the construction of the road.

This road and its design have been spoken about by many politicians. Among them are the former President, John Dramani Mahama, Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa and the latest, the Volta Regional Chairman of NPP, Makafui Woanya. Mr. Woanya, while at a soirée he organised for the Press on Friday, December 30, at his residence in Ho, alleged that the road did not have a design.

In the Volta Region, Mr. Woanya noted that a lot of projects, like the Eastern Corridor road, is progressing steadily, and the Sokode-Ho dual carriage road, which did not have a design and secured source of funding, has been regularised and is near completion.

Some communicators and serial callers of the party have trumpeted this claim.

Mr. Woanya repeated the same claim in a presser on January 19, at the party’s regional officer.

The presser was carried live on the Facebook page of the Keta Constituency Organiser, who also leads the party’s new media. The researcher monitored the presentation, and the claim was mentioned at 15 minutes and 40 seconds of the live feed.

Verification

Due to the widespread claim and how this portends on development, I set out on a fact finding mission to ascertain the claim's veracity. There was a conversation with the Regional Director of Urban Roads, Ing. Edward Annan, whose outfit is the contract supervisor.

According to him, starting a road project as big as a dual carriage without a design was strange. He added that commencing a project without first conceptualising its appearance made no engineering sense. He said St. Anne's Development Ltd was selected as the project's consultant and was tasked to draw a design, which they presented to the then Regional Minister Adjoa Ntoso as captured in an online graphic report.

Conclusion

Based on the conversation with the Regional Urban Road Engineer, Ing. Edward Annan and pictorial evidence as published on graphic online, it is evident that the road had a design done by Dr. Charles Wood, a Managing Director at St. Anne’s Development Limited.