Rehabilitation work has begun on the deteriorated Bole-Wa road and is expected to be completed within three months, Minister of Transport, Kwesi Amoako Atta has disclosed.
According to him, he has directed the Mobile Maintenance Team of the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) to fix potholes on the stretch which has made travelling unpleasant and unsafe for travellers.
The work which is being carried out by the Road Mobile Maintenance Team of the Authority of Roads and Highway under the directives from the Ministry of Roads and Highways is expected to ease the stress of travellers and also ensure safety on the road.
Addressing a news conference at Wa on Tuesday, the Transport Minister said all potholes on the road would be patched, after which refilling would be done to ensure that it was motorable.
The conference was to enable the minister communicate to residents of the Upper West Region about work being carried out their roads since the government assumed the reins of power three years ago.
He said the government was working on roads in every constituency in all the 16 regions of the country and reiterated that 2020 had been earmarked as the year of roads and that the president was living up to the task.
Mr Amoako Atta outlined that under the three departments in charge of roads: the Department of Feeder and Urban Roads respectively and the Ghana Highways Authority, each of them would see construction of roads as well as upgrading of some feeder roads.
“The Upper West Region has a road network size of 3, 570 kilometres, a percentage of the number is credited as good and other section poor. We will ensure that all potholes on trunk roads are also patched and all gravel roads totalling 5,200 kilometres are graded and the sizes cleaned to ensure smooth transportation,” he stated.
Mr Amoako Atta reiterated that the construction of the Wa-Bulenga-Yalla, Fian-Issa-Wahabu, Wa-Fian, Wahabu-Funsi-Yalla, Kaleo-Sankana roads respectively as well as upgrade of the Wechiau to Ga road on a 20 kilometres stretch and said most of the construction would soon be completed.
The concentration of government, he noted, was to ensure that no contractor abandon site while construction was ongoing and that every contractor was able to complete their work by the end of December 2020.
He charged residents and the security agencies to exercise vigilance on the various road projects to safeguard the road and its signs in order to prevent over loading by vehicles, which according to him, reduce the longevity of the road and also stop unscrupulous persons from destroying road signs and selling the metals as scraps.
FROM LYDIA FORDJOUR AND RAFIA ABDUL RAZAK, WA