No president has built roads like Akufo-Addo – Roads Minister

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwasi Amoako Attah, has said no government in the country’s history, since independence, has tackled road infrastructure with the seriousness that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has.

Mr Amoako-Tuffuor was speaking at the Nation Building Updates series on Thursday, 12 November 2020.

The minister explained that: “We’re talking about putting all Ghanaian roads together; those being handled by the Department of Urban Roads, those being handled by the Department of Feeder Roads and the Ghana Highway Authority. If you put all of them together, as of the date aforementioned, the total is 78,400 km”.

“From independence, 1957 up to 2017, only 23 per cent of this total 78,400 kilometres of road, had been paved; that is had ever seen bitumen.

“The remaining 77 per cent was unpaved and was at either gravel or earth stage and that 77 per cent, in terms of kilometrage, will work up to almost a little of 60,000 kilometres. That was the condition of roads in our country.”

The minister noted that the condition of roads is generally categorised into three but since there is no difference between good and poor roads by Ghanaian standards, he categorises them into two.

“The road condition must be good, it must be fair or be poor and, as of January 2017, 39 per cent of our roads were considered to be good. Thirty-two per cent considered to be fair and 29 per cent considered to be poor”.

“So, I always categorise the condition of roads in the Ghanaian setting into two: Good and poor. It means, as of that date, only 39 per cent of our roads were considered to be good and even what was considered to be good, I don’t know whether it was not by Ghanaian standard. We had as much as 61 per cent of our road condition to be poor.”

Mr Amoako-Attah added: “Since independence, 1957 up to date, all successive governments had played their part, so far as fixing the road infrastructure is concerned but I want to make a statement that in terms of road works, no government; no government of our nation, since independence, has worked so hard and has extensively done road works than is done under the leadership of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo within a three-and-a-half to four-year period; no government since independence.”