Parliamentary Committee on Roads and Transport inspects roads

Koforidua, Aug. 7, GNA - The Parliamentary Committee on Roads and Transport is on a one week tour of the Eastern Region to inspect work done on roads and assess what need to be done to improve upon the road network in the region.

Speaking at a meeting with the New Juaben Municipal Chief Executive, Nana Kwasi Adjei Boateng, and officials of the Ghana Highways Authority, Department of Feeder Roads and the Urban Roads Department in Koforidua, the chairman of the committee, Mr Samuel Obodai, said the situation when officials conducted the committee members to inspect only the good roads leaving the bad ones was not the best.

Mr Obodai said the committee needed to be conducted round the bad roads as well to ascertain what support should be given to the region. He said after approving budgetary allocations for the construction of roads in the country, it was part of the responsibility of the committee to find out if the money was being used for the projects that it was meant for.

Nana Adjei-Boateng said before the establishment of the Department of Urban Roads in the Koforidua Municipality six years ago, the condition of the roads in the area was very bad but there had been some improvement.

He said despite the improvement more needed to be done to improve the road network in the municipality.

Nana Adjei-Boateng said contract had been awarded for the construction of the nine-kilometre Kassardjan road bypass that would take traffic away from the Kumasi/Bunso road through to the Akuapim area.

Mr Abass Awolu, Municipal Engineer of the Department of Urban Roads, said when the Kassardjan road bypass was completed, it would shorten the distance between Oyoko to Adweso from 17 kilometres to nine. He said the road from the Adweso junction to the Koforidua Polytechnic area would be a dual carriageway that would cover 1.5 kilometres while the road from the polytechnic to the Oyoko roundabout would be a single carriage way.

Members of the committee also inspected work on the Kassardjan road, Koforidua Zongo roads, construction works at the old estate, Medical village and work on the Korle Nkwanta road. The committee appreciated work done on the BNI road and commended the construction firm, Messrs Opanyin Ayeh Limited, for a good work done.