Your 6,000k Year of Roads for second term woefully inadequate - Minority

The government’s pledge to construct an estimated 6,000 kilometres of roads nationwide over the next four years is inadequate, the Minority in Parliament has suggested.

In the view of the Minority, the estimated kilometres proposed by the government could be more.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, May 23, 2021, in Accra, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Attah said 6,000 kilometres of roads out of the over 11,000 kilometres of programmed roads will be completed in President Akufo-Addo’s second term.

“As part of the government’s year of road programme, critical roads of total length 2,167.2km were identified in all the 16 regions of the country for rehabilitation at a cost of GHS 7.827billion,” he said.

“325 projects are currently ongoing across cocoa growing areas across the country. Total length of roads is 4,853km at a cost of GHS14.511billion. The Ministry of Roads and Highways has programmed to undertake 1,500km of asphaltic overlay in major towns and cities across the country including hospitals, schools, courts, police barracks, army garrisons, and other security services compounds.”

But reacting, the Minority’s spokesperson on Roads and Transport, Kwame Agbodza said the 6,000 kilometres is woefully inadequate considering the quantum of resources at their disposal.

He touted the NDC as a party that believes in accelerated infrastructure development and build a lot when in government and also support when infrastructure projects even when they are not in government.

But they only disagree with the government on projects, not in the interest of the state and will not improve the living standard of Ghanaians.

The MP for Adaklu told the media that the government could do more because the NPP has received more since they took over.

He said the Minister should have told the media which of the projects they completed during the first term and that information is ”very scanty”.

What the Minister did he noted was to repackage the same projects which should have been completed by end of 2020 and ”pretending that those are the project they are complete in 2024”.

He said the Synohydro project comprising over 400 kilometres of roads should have been completed in the first term of the NPP government but not a single of those roads have been completed.

He insisted that the road component of the Synohydro is a failure and the government should be ashamed of themselves.