Regional News of Saturday, 16 February 2013
Source: graphic.com.gh
Stop hawkers from selling on major roads
The Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhaji Amin Sulemani, has directed city authorities to, as a matter of urgency, find ways to stop vendors from using portions of major roads as their marketplace.
He said until the activities of the vendors, especially those who operated on portions of the Madina-Adenta road, were stopped, it would be difficult to maintain discipline on the roads and also reduce the spate of accidents that had hit the country.
Alhaji Sulemani made the call after embarking on an inspection tour of some major roads in Accra Thursday.
The tour took the minister and some heads of agencies and directors to the Accra East Corridor.
Mr Sulemani, who was also accompanied by the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Mr Alfred Vanderpuye, visited the Boundary Road at East Legon where the dualisation of boundary roads from the Motorway Slip and the Gulf House to the North Dzorwulu link is being developed.
The tour also took the minister to the Tetteh Quarshie-Madina-Adenta road and the George Walker Bush Highway.
The purpose of the tour, according to Mr Sulemani, was not only to inspect road projects under construction but also find out from the contractors the challenges hindering the speedy completion of the projects.
The issue of funding was the major challenge the contractors working on the projects, particularly those on the Boundary Road at East Legon, complained about.
Mr Sulemani assured them that measures would be put in place to address the challenges and raise funds to ensure that the contractors executed their projects on schedule.
The minister tasked the contractors to consider appropriate drains when constructing the roads to avoid flooding during the rainy season.
He particularly advised contractors not to abandon roads that had developed potholes in the course of constructing new ones, since that could pose danger in the future.
He expressed satisfaction with the work done, especially on the Tetteh Quarshie-Madina-Adenta road, and hoped that accessibility for motorists within the road network would reduce traffic.
Concerning the spate of road accidents on the George Walker Bush Highway, Mr Sulemani said the ministry was considering building bridges to reduce the risk involved in crossing the road as part of the temporary measures being adopted.
“On long-term measures, we will do some linkages on the road to ensure that the situation gets better,” he said.
For his part, Mr Vanderpuye gave an assurance that permanent measures would be put in place to stop the illegal mounting of structures along the roads.
He said although the AMA was currently facing some challenges in moving traders away from the streets, it would not rest until discipline was restored on the roads.
