Ms. Maryvonne Plessis-Fraissard, World Bank (WB) Transport Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, on Sunday inspected some of the major roads under the government's four-year road sector development programme.
Dr. Richard Anane, Minister of Roads and Transport and officials of the sector took her through some major roads in Accra that the World Bank had sponsored as part of the programme.
Roads inspected included, the 28th February - High Street, Lutterodt Street, Okaishie - Kojo Thompson road, Sukura - Russia roads, Nkrumah Circle - Nsawam road and the Spintex road leading to Teshie link to the La Palm Beach Hotel.
Ms. Plessis-Fraissard, stressed the need for the government to involve the private sector in road development.
She reminded the Ministry of its 60 per cent maintenance role in the whole road development process and said it should try to carry it out, since the country was fast growing with attendant congestion problems.
Ms. Plessis-Fraissard said her visit to Ghana was crucial because it was the time the WB was considering the country for a new credit facility.
Dr. Anane said his vision was to have a good transport system in the country, adding, "the time that people get to their work places is very important, if we want to see our total productivity always increasing."
Dr. Anane gave a negative impression about roads in the country, saying "most of the roads are unsafe and the earlier something is done, the better it would be for the nation".
Mr. Joseph L. Lamptey, Acting Chief Director of the Ministry announced that the government had signed a loan agreement of 220 million dollars with the WB to commence the nation-wide programme and was waiting for legal endorsement for it to take off.He said the African Development Bank, the German, French and Japanese governments and Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) are some of the sponsors.
Mr. Lamptey said a design for a six-lane road from Kwame Nkrumah Circle to Ofankor to be continued with a four-lane road to Nsawam, that would start next year, was ready.
He said the four-year programme would involve the expansion of most urban roads into dual-carriage roads.
