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Work on Jasikan-Dodo-Pepesu road begins

Construction work on the Jasikan-Dodo-Pepesu stretch of the Eastern Corridor road will begin soon following the symbolic sod-cutting of the project on Tuesday by the Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia at Jasikan.

The aggregate cost of the project is estimated at 45 million dollars and would take about 30 months to complete.

The funding is from the Master Project Support Agreement (MPSA) between the Ghana government and Sinohydro Corporation Limited of China for the construction of priority infrastructure project.

The MPSA is essentially a batter facility which the state would repay with refined bauxite; the objective of the agreement was to use part of the fund to improve road infrastructure.

In his address, Vice President Bawumia reiterated government’s commitment in making sure that all road projects in the country were fixed, stressing that “as a government we are looking at this transaction to afford us the opportunity to expand and improve our road infrastructure.”

According to him, “our development initiatives, particularly in roads, have yielded results and contractors are back to the site to continue work on the roads.”

The Vice President made it clear that the Volta Region had not been left out as it was one of the regions to benefit under the critical road construction, adding “every region will get its fair share of development in the road sector.”

He told the gathering to ignore the propaganda of a section of people who would like to politicise everything in the country, adding that the country has about 78,000 kilometre of road network and out of these only 39 per cent were good.

Vice President Bawumia said that when “this section of road is completed it will help maximise the benefits and facilitate easier movement of farm produce and people from the food basket areas of  the northern part of Oti and Volta regions.”

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Attah, called on motorists to cooperate with the contractor to deliver the work on time, saying that the government would make sure that quality was not compromised, so that we get value for money.

Mr Zhang Nianmu, President of PowerChina West and Central Africa in his remarks, said he was confident that under their joint agreement Ghana and China would work together to enrich their friendship to greater heights for the mutual benefit of our people.

The Oti Regional Minister, Nana Kwasi Owusu Yeboah, was happy that “at long last this stretch of road is being fixed to provide comfort to drivers and travellers,” and assured that all other roads in the region would be tackled one after the other, and called for patience from the people.

Nana Aburam Akpadja V, Paramount Chief of Buem Traditional Area, who chaired the function commended the government for its efforts to fix the road which had been causing inconvenience to drivers who ply it.

FROM KAFUI GATI, JASIKAN

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