President Agyekum Kufuor on Thursday blamed the over reliance on donor and multilateral agency support for the delays in road construction works and said the road development levy and tolling arrangements would be enforced to generate revenue to reverse the trend.
Delivering his third State of the nation Address to Parliament, President Kufuor said: "It is probably worthwhile pointing out that because we have to rely on donors and other multilateral agencies for almost all the funds for the development of roads, we are obliged to submit to and observe the varied procedures their systems require to ensure that their taxpayers' monies are used efficiently.
"This invariably leads to the long delays between the headline announcement of the project and the actual arrival of diggers and tractors on the roads."
The President was speaking on the five priority areas of government, which include: Infrastructure Development; Rural Development Through Modernised Agriculture; Enhanced Social Services With Emphasis On Health and Education; Good Governance and Private Sector Development.
President Kufuor said this year alone, government would spend an amount of almost two trillion cedis (250 million dollars) on road construction.
Government's component of the amount is about 422 billion cedis or 22 percent.
The President noted that the daily carnage on the roads was taking a heavy and tragic toll on Ghanaians and said two members of Parliament had died in motor accidents in the recent past.
President Kufuor observed that since there was an urgent need for good roads, it was imperative that Ghana moved away from over dependence on external finance.
"Since we all accept the urgent need for these roads, it is imperative that we try to wean the country from the over dependence on external finance and increase internal revenue mobilisation, to give us the freedom to move faster."
He urged the public to maintain the roads after they were built, adding : "This is why the road development levy and the tolling arrangements are going to be enforced in earnest by government".
