Salia warns against deals in the roads sector

The Minister of Roads and Transport, Mr Edward Salia today warned that engineers and road workers who collaborate with contractors to deliberately delay projects so as to attract variation orders will be prosecuted. Mr Salia was speaking at the annual review conference of the Department of Urban Roads in Accra. The minister urged engineers in the field and offices to intensify their monitoring of road projects and contractors' activities so as to ensure that quality road works are executed. He said a tour of most parts of the country revealed that a lot of road works are going on. However, much remains to be done to be able to open up all parts of the country for economic activities. Mr Salia said the department is to be decentralised and its responsibilities transferred to the metropolitan and municipal assemblies. Already the necessary steps, including procurement of road maintenance equipment for the Roads Unit, are being taken to ensure a smooth transition. Other measures are the Urban Two Project, provision of office and minor workshop facilities, recruitment of about a dozen middle level management, establishment of various systems and procedures to ensure a smooth and efficient implementation of roads and transport policies and maintenance management system. Mr Salia told them that in their interactions with assembly members, they should raise the awareness of the direct impact of land use on transportation and steps to be taken to reduce any adverse impact. He said the encroachment of road and drainage reservations should be tackled by the works department of the assemblies while planning committees should ensure that adequate parking facilities are provided by new developers. Mr Salia said routine maintenance has been fully decentralised and the assemblies now have adequate resources through the road units to meet their responsibilities. He said last year, the ministry released about four billion cedis to the cities for this job and this year 10 billion cedis will be released to them through the roads unit for routine maintenance. The Minister said periodic maintenance will have adequate funding from the Road Fund and assemblies will focus primarily on activities such as resealing, resurfacing and regravelling. Further funding will be dependent on the result of technical audits on the use of funds and resources meant for road maintenance. Mr Salia noted that as the department celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, the condition of roads has seen modest improvement. At the time of its establishment, nine per cent of the total network of 1,100 kilometres of urban was good. Now, 16 per cent of the total network of 2,360 kilometres is good. Additionally, more pedestrian facilities have been provided while there is work going on to provide cycle paths and encourage cycling as an alternate mode of transportation.