The Ghana Road Fund has generated GH¢1.21billion from 2000 to 2011 In spite of the financial achievement, the fund carried forward an indebtedness of GH¢210.5million from 2012 to 2013, increasing the previous year’s indebtedness by GH¢59.60million.

It is projected that this year, GH¢264.42million will accrue to the fund and enable it to meet the road maintenance budget

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Aminu Amidu Sulemani who revealed this in a speech read for him at a public forum held in Sunyani on the Road Fund, said the rising indebtedness of the Fund is due to the high cost of road construction and its subsequent regular maintenance in the country.

He said: “Road construction and maintenance are very expensive ventures. For example, the cost of resurfacing 1km of road is GH¢135,000, while resealing costs GH¢70,000 per kilometre”.

The forum, under the theme “Financing Road Maintenance”, was organised by the Ghana Road Fund Board for stakeholders to brainstorm toward ensuring adequate resourcing and sustainable management of the Road Fund.

Though it is projected that for this year, 2013, GH¢264.42million will accrue to the Road Fund, it will only meet a fraction of the road maintenance budget for Ghana’s 68,000km road network as the current capacity of the Fund can sustain only about 30% of the road maintenance needs in the country, he noted.

The cumulative effect of the situation over a period of time, the Roads Minister admitted, will retard development if not addressed, as a good road network promotes and accelerates socio-economic activities to reduce poverty. Road transportation plays a major role in the socio-economic development of any nation. Statistics have shown that in Ghana it facilitates the movement of between 94-97% of goods, persons and services.

Mr. Sulemani stated that government is exploring other financial options to supplement the annual budgetary provision for road maintenance, such as the long-term pre-financing; Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT); and the Maintain, Operate and Transfer (MOT) concepts of Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements.

On the part of road users, he stressed: “It is incumbent on all to support the Road Fund to ensure all the collectible revenue under the various items are mobilised and judiciously applied to road maintenance programmes. This, we can do through the regular and prompt payment of levies and fees that go into the Fund, and we must always also insist on obtaining receipts for any fee and tolls we pay”.

Mr. Justice Samuel Adjei, Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, in his welcome address said many of the roads in the region’s hinterlands are in a deplorable condition, especially during the rainy season -- thereby slowing down the pace of farming and economic activities there.

He cited Sene East and West Districts as case-studies where they are sometimes completely cut-off from the rest of the region, preventing residents -- predominantly farmers -- from transporting their foodstuffs to market centres, and appealed to the Road Fund Secretariat and the Roads Ministry to go to their aid.