Ministry instructed to award Fulfilso-Sawla road on contract

Wa, Oct. 26, GNA- President John Agyekum Kufuor has instructed the Ministry of Roads and Transport to award the Fulfilso-Sawla portion of the Tamale-Wa road to three contractors for early completion of work to facilitate the movement of goods and people between the Northern and Upper West Regions.

He said the road was important and its completion would also encourage more tourists to patronize the Larabanga Mystic Stone, the Larabanga Mosque and the Mole National Park to generated more money for the local people and government.

Mr. Godfred Bayong Tongu, Minister of State at the Ministry, who announced these in Wa on Thursday during an official visit to the Upper West Region to inspect ongoing road projects, urged road contractors to work efficiently.

He said the road sector had seen a lot of improvement under the New Patriotic Party Government and commended workers of the Ministry for working hard for the attainment of targets.

Mr. Tongu noted that with the improvement of the Bole-Bamboi road, new transport companies were locating in the Upper West Region. He said the Wa-Han, Wa-Dorimon, Wa -Tumu and Nadowli-Lawra-Hamile roads had been awarded on contract to link the region with Burkina Faso to enhance trade between the Ghana and Burkina Faso.

Mr. Tongu said contract on the Sisili-Navrongo road had been terminated and it would be re-awarded to a new contractor. He inspected work on the 12.8 billion cedis 10 kilometres Wa-Han road, which is expected to be complete behind schedule.

Mr. Tongu also inspected the 22 billion cedis 15 kilometres Jirapa-Babile road as well as Babile town roads and commended Messrs Ghamini Enterprise and Rajga Construction Firm for doing a good work and urged other contractors to work efficiently.

Mr. Francis Addai-Nimoh, an engineer at the Ministry said 30 per cent of the national budget was invested in the road and transport sectors.

He urged engineers supervising road projects to ensure that right specifications were followed saying, "It would be a disgrace if we constructs roads today and they are washed away tomorrow." Some workers of the ministry in the region complained about poor salaries and working conditions and appealed to government to address the problems to encourage them to put in their best to promote the road and transport sectors.

The workers asked for more metro buses for the region to facilitate the movement of people.