Twenty road engineers and maintenance surveyors across the country are undergoing a five-day training workshop in the Eastern regional capital, Koforidua.
It is aimed at studying new technologies and methods in road construction to enable them construct durable roads.
The event which began on Monday, was organised by the Ministry of Roads and Highways in collaboration with an Israeli Construction firm, Anyway and its local partners African Bagg Limited.
Facilitators from Anyway and African Bagg had taken the participants through soil stabilisation, a new technology which has been proven to save time and money by eliminating costly processes of removing and dumping the existing materials and transporting new materials from afar during the construction process.
The Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Mrs Mavis Nkansah Boadu, said the ministry has devoted itself to finding and applying innovative ways in which to deliver quality roads and highways in the country.
She said, “It was gratifying that Anyway and its local partners shared the vision of the ministry and was committed to working with them to achieve a common goal.
“The training programme represented a prime example of the benefit that could be achieved by embracing new and better approaches for road projects and the ministry can deliver projects at less cost, in less time, with less impact on the environment,” she said.
Mrs Boadu added that the training would equip the engineers with current and new skills and techniques both in the laboratory and the field to improve the country’s road network.
“I have learnt that implementing this technology, existing roads and pavement materials can be recycled and reused to construct new and more durable roads and similarly local materials can be improved and strengthened to be used in constructing new infrastructure without the need to import materials from afar.”
The Deputy Minister therefore said her ministry gladly embraced the generosity offered by the Israeli company which had assembled a team of the world’s foremost experts in stabilisation for road construction to share their expertise and technical know-how with the civil engineering community in Ghana through such a training programme.
Mrs Boadu stated that the technology would create employment opportunities for Ghanaians and would improve and expand the national road network.
For her part, the Israeli Ambassador to Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Ms Shlomit Sufa said due to climate change, it had become necessary for all counties to suggest new ways of road construction.
She said the embassy fully supported Anyway’s new innovations to assist Ghanaian engineers and quantity maintenance surveyors and hoped that the new technology would help to construct quality roads to preserve the country’s environment.
The Principal of the Koforidua Training Centre (KTC) of the Ghana Highways Authority, Mr Daniel Asare said the new technology adopted by the ministry and its agencies would build good roads and ensure its longevity.
Caption: Mrs Mavis Nkansah Boadu, (forth from left) flanked by Israeli Ambassador-designate and Mr Daniel Asare with participants
FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, KOFORIDUA
