Don’t abandon Volta road projects - MP to government

The Member of Parliament for Ho Central, Benjamin Kpodo, has questioned the rationale behind government’s decision to “scale down” a 17.5km feeder road project which covers the Hodzo, Takla, and Kpenoe communities.

According to him, the Feeder Roads Department and other relevant stakeholders said they had to scale down on projects because of lack of funds.

The legislator, however, noted that the project, which was fully funded under the erstwhile NDC administration, has been reviewed and the contractors have vacated the site after preliminary work on the road.

“I went to Feeder Roads [Department] and [they] confirmed that for lack of funds they have decided to scale it down…but all documentation for the construction of those roads were completed under the previous regime and funds have been allocated for the road works to be done. The contractor moved to site. It is upon assumption of the new government that instructions were given out that that project should be scaled down,” he bemoaned.

“I know that the scheduled time for the completion of the road will no longer hold because they have put a stop to the project now. The contractor has moved out. So if we were expecting the project to complete in 15 months, it is going to be more than that because we have to go and push for the restart of the project, but I’m just trying to let the government know that it’s not good to scale down that project or to stop it. They should continue it as the NDC government started. They should not stop the project and leave the people stranded in the middle of the road. I don’t know the reason for trying to stop a good project, that is why I’m raising the issue.”

Aside demonstrations by the youth in the area, chiefs and elders of Kpenoe, Takla, and Hodzo, near Ho in the Volta Region, last year threatened to barricade the roads to their communities for three months and equally ban political campaigns in protest against the failure by successive governments to fix their deplorable roads.