AT dawn in Accra, the city begins to stir. Before the first rush of vehicles floods the roads, traders arrange their wares on pavements, mechanics roll out tools onto road shoulders, and owners of kiosks and containers open their doors inches from speeding traffic. By mid-morning, sidewalks have vanished under piles of goods, pedestrians walk on roads, and buses struggle through narrow lanes carved out of what were once wide road reservations.
This is not an isolated scene. It is replicated daily in Kumasi, Tema, Tamale, Sekondi–Takoradi, Cape Coast, Sunyani and many emerging cities across Ghana. Road reservations legally set aside for roads, sidewalks, drainage systems, utilities, and future expansions are being steadily occupied by informal traders, permanent structures, and commercial enterprises.
What appears as ordinary urban hustle is, in reality, a slow but systematic erosion of Ghana’s road infrastructure. The encroachment of road reservations has become one of the most pressing urban challenges of our time, with profound implications for mobility, safety, economic productivity, and sustainable development.
The scale of the problem: Numbers tell the story
Ghana’s rapid urbanisation provides the backdrop to the encroachment crisis. According to the Ghana Statistical Service, the proportion of the population living in urban areas increased significantly from 43.8 per cent in 2000 to over 56 per cent in 2021, with an estimated 61 per cent in 2025, marking a transition to a predominantly urban country. Metropolitan areas such as Greater Accra and Kumasi continue to experience some of the fastest urban growth rates in West Africa.
With urban growth comes pressure on land and infrastructure. The Ministry of Roads and Highways estimates that Ghana has over 78,000 kilometres of road network, with urban roads accounting for a significant proportion. However, the Department of Urban Roads has repeatedly cautioned that a substantial number of urban roads are operating below design capacity due to encroachment and unregulated land use.
The economic cost of congestion is equally alarming. Studies by the World Bank and other development partners estimate that traffic congestion in Accra and Kumasi costs approximately $3 billion annually, equivalent to about six per cent of Ghana’s GDP in lost productivity, fuel consumption, and environmental damage. Encroachment on road reservations is a major contributor to this inefficiency.
The National Engineering Coordinating Team (NECT) has publicly criticised some MMDAs for approving developments on road corridors, warning that such practices impose heavy compensation costs on the state during road expansion projects.
Road safety and political dimensions
Road safety statistics further underscore the severity of the problem. According to the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Ghana recorded over 2,373 road traffic fatalities in 2022, with thousands more injured. Pedestrians accounted for over 25 per cent of road deaths, a figure partly attributed to the lack of safe walkways caused by encroachment on sidewalks and road shoulders.
Urban space in Ghana is deeply political. Enforcement actions against encroachers can provoke public protests and electoral backlash. As a result, authorities often adopt a cautious approach, allowing encroachment to persist until it becomes unmanageable.
How did we get here?
Urban poverty and informality
One cannot understand encroachment without confronting the reality of urban poverty. The Ghana Living Standards Survey indicates that a significant proportion of urban residents depend on informal economic activities for survival. Street trading, roadside services, and micro-enterprises provide livelihoods for millions.
For many traders, occupying road reservations is not a deliberate act of defiance but a survival strategy. Formal markets are often overcrowded, poorly located, or unaffordable. Roadside spaces, by contrast, offer direct access to customers.
Land scarcity and rising property values
Urban land in Ghana has become increasingly expensive. As cities expand, low-income residents and small businesses are pushed to marginal spaces, including road reservations. The dual land tenure system—customary and statutory—creates ambiguities that facilitate illegal development.
Institutional weaknesses
Local authorities often lack the capacity to enforce planning laws. In some cases, building permits are issued for structures located within road reservations, reflecting administrative lapses or political interference.
The repercussions: Beyond traffic congestion
1. Mobility crisis and economic losses
Encroachment reduces effective road width, creating bottlenecks and slowing traffic flow. Commuters spend hours in traffic, businesses incur higher transportation costs, and productivity declines. Average travel speeds in central Accra during peak hours have fallen below 15 km/h, far lower than international urban standards.
2. Road safety and human cost
When sidewalks are occupied, pedestrians are compelled onto carriageways, increasing accident risks. Children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities are particularly vulnerable. The World Health Organisation estimates that road crashes cost countries up to three per cent of their GDP annually.
3. Flooding and environmental risks
Encroachment often blocks drainage systems. During heavy rains, water has nowhere to flow, leading to floods that damage property and disrupt economic activity. Accra’s recurrent flooding has been partly linked to this problem.
4. Rising cost of infrastructure development
Encroachment significantly increases the cost of road projects. Illegal structures must be demolished and occupants compensated. Between 2015 and 2022, millions of cedis were reportedly spent on compensation and demolition related to encroachment.
5. Planning paralysis and lost future opportunities
Road reservations are meant to accommodate future infrastructure such as road widening and public transport systems. Once occupied, future development becomes difficult and expensive, locking cities into inefficient spatial patterns.
6. Social conflict and urban inequality
Efforts to remove encroachers often trigger protests and clashes. For informal workers, eviction threatens survival, exposing tensions between urban order and social justice.
Encroachment as an institutional failure
Encroachment on road reservations reflects deeper weaknesses in Ghana’s urban governance system, including lack of coordination among land agencies, weak enforcement of planning laws, political interference, and limited inclusion of informal actors in planning processes.
The way forward: Reclaiming Ghana’s roads
Strengthening law enforcement
Ghana already has adequate laws to protect road reservations. What is lacking is consistent enforcement without political bias.
Integrating the informal economy into planning
Rather than treating informal traders as adversaries, policymakers should integrate them through well-located markets, transport terminals, and designated trading zones.
Investing in urban infrastructure
Protecting road reservations must be part of a broader urban mobility strategy that prioritises public transport, pedestrian infrastructure, and non-motorised transport.
Public awareness and civic responsibility
Road reservations are public assets. Encroachment imposes costs on society. Public education, led by the Department of Urban Roads in collaboration with the Information Services Department and the media, is essential.
Conclusion: A National Imperative
The encroachment of road reservations in Ghana’s cities is not merely an urban nuisance; it is a national development challenge. It threatens road safety, undermines economic productivity, increases public expenditure, and erodes urban life.
If Ghana is to build safe, efficient, and sustainable cities, road reservations must be protected with urgency. This requires political will, institutional reform, and social dialogue. The question is not whether Ghana can reclaim its road reservations, but whether it can afford not to.
The writer is a Public Relations Practitioner at the Information Services Department.
BY ISAAC AGYEI KWAKYE
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