Fifty–two different road projects are currently being constructed by the government in the Upper East Region, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Atta has disclosed.
The minister mentioned that the Ghana Highways was overseeing the construction of the 20 of the road projects whilst the Department of Feeder Road and Department of Urban Roads were executing 23 and nine respectively.
The minister who is also the Member of Parliament for Atiwa West Constituency in the Eastern Region, made the disclosure at a press conference held at the Regional Coordinating Council Conference Hall of Bolgatanga on Friday.
Additionally, he stated that 24 road projects were in the pipeline and going through procurement and bidding process, assuring that the processes would be completed within one-and-a-half years for work to begin.
The sector minister said the region was receiving its share of the road projects under the ‘Year of road policy’ initiated by the government, adding that in all 879.9kiliometres of roads in the region were under construction.
“In all 879.9 km of roads in the Upper East Region are under construction which when completed will significantly improve upon the condition mix of the network in the region as well as contribute to agriculture, economic and social growth of this area”, he stressed.
The minister stated that the region was expected to benefit from 76 road projects within this year, adding that the key road projects in the region receiving government’s attention included Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmako road, rehabilitation of Sandema-Doninga-Santejan road and re-gravelling of Missiga-Garu-Sessie road.
Others he mentioned were, re-gravelling of Wiaga-Fumbisi-Wiase road, upgrading Missiga-Kulungu road, upgrading of Chuchuliga-Sandema, Navrongo-Naga, Bolgatanga-Naga, partial reconstruction of Bolgatanga-Bawku road, Navrongo-Tono junction, Bolgatanga-Bongo, Winkongo-Tongo.
The minister who later paid a working visit to the Missga-Kulungu, Bongo- Balungu and the Temne bridges in the Bawku, Pusiga and the Bongo Districts, assured the people in the area that the government was committed to paying the contractors on time to enable them to finish the projects as scheduled.
The Regional Minister, Ms Abayage Togoba, who accompanied the minister on the tour, appealed to him to ensure that the broken down streetlights in the regional capital were restored to which, the sector minister pledged to work on them by fixing modern streetlights and replacing the dysfunctional ones.
She commended the sector minister for working hard to ensure that the region got its fair share of the government’s road infrastructure, and urged him to speed up the processes for the projects to be completed on schedule.
From Samuel Akapule, Bolgatanga
