1km of asphalt road costs GH¢1.5 million - Roads minister

The minister-designate for Roads and Highways, Kwesi Amoako Attah, has disclosed that for every kilometer of road constructed in Ghana, the State pays GH¢1.5 million.

He said that the capital-intensive nature of the sector has always made it seem like monies allocated to it should be enough to cater for the enormous stretch of road coverage it has unattended to.

But on the contrary, he said, that is not the case.

Responding to questions in Parliament during his vetting on budgetary allocations to the ministry and the specific details on costs of road projects, Amoako Attah said that while the monies are enough, he still counts himself luckier than other colleagues.

"I will not say that we get enough that will enable us do a lot of the work expected in the roads sector because the sector is capital-intensive so when we talk about GHs1 billion, it might sound like big money but in terms of execution of projects, it cannot go far. To that extent, we are not getting enough to back up on road construction Ghana as we all expect to see.

"But I can say on authority that on a comparative basis, and because 2020 was declared the Year of Roads, because whenever the president went someone, one of the first things people presented to him were their bad roads, I have had better treatments than my colleagues in other ministries or sectors but that does not mean we are getting enough.

"I can give you a few statistics. For instance, an asphalt overlay for one kilometer costs about GH¢1.5 million," he said.

Kwesi Amoako Attah is before Parliament's Appointments Committee to answer questions related to his sector and to convince the House to approve his re-appointment to the sector as minister.