Ghana is acknowledged internationally as having one of the best road networks in West Africa, with 109,515 km of roads, of which 13,787 km are major roads.
The Ghana Highway Authority has the mandate of constructing and maintenance of roads in the country and has done so by connecting national roads to all the major cities and towns of the country.
The road network is of primary and critical importance to the economy, with more than 95 per cent of people and 98 per cent of goods being transported by road.
Roads make a crucial contribution to the country’s economic development and growth and bring important social benefits.
Additionally, they are of vital importance in order to make a nation grow and develop. Its contribution to providing access to employment, social, health and education services makes a road network crucial in fighting poverty.
Indeed, roads open up more areas and stimulate economic and social development. For these reasons, road infrastructure is the most important of all public assets.
Therefore, maintaining road infrastructure is essential to preserve and enhance those benefits. However, it appears that most roads across that country lack maintenance which has resulted in irreversible deterioration of part of the road network in the country.
Insufficient maintenance and unmotorable roads are known to cause hardships, result in soaring cost of living and a major financial impact on the economy and citizens.
With this in mind, it is important for decision-makers to recognise that roads play a very vital role in the economic life of citizens, especially those in remote areas who experience difficulties transporting their goods, travelling from one point to another within the country or even catching up on new developments.
Improving the general road network in the rural areas is a measure to alleviate poverty. Beyond alleviation of poverty, the importance of rural roads extends to all aspects of development of rural communities including demand for and access to health, education, among others.
However, most rural roads in the country experience numerous challenges in their maintenance which is why we share in the concerns raised by citizens over poor roads in some parts of the country.
The latest to do that is the Paramount Chief of the Tongo Traditional Area, Tongraan Kugbilsong who appealed to the government to adopt accelerated approach to work on poor road networks in the Upper East Region.
This is not the first time that this concern is being raised. Many community leaders and individuals have raised issues about roads and we believe it is time they are tackled as a matter of national priority.
Maintenance and development of road networks offer economic benefits over the long term and that is why, we must take advantage of it and make life comfortable particularly, for those living in rural communities.
