Roads are critical to development - Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama on Friday inspected roads and sanitation equipment that would be used in routine road maintenance and waste collection.

The equipment, made up of five bulldozers, 10 excavators, 60 motor graders, 20 wheel loaders and 20 dump trucks, would be positioned at three centres in the Northern, Middle and Southern sectors to cater for waste collection and road maintenance.

President Mahama, who directed the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to distribute the equipment to the three slots for commencement of work, said roads had become critical to the development needs of the people.

He said after sufficient provision of electricity and telecommunication, roads were the only places left to be attended to, to make communication in the country elaborate and workable.

President Mahama said apart from using the equipment to maintain feeder roads to ease the evacuation of food crops from the rural areas to marketing centres,the wheel loaders would also be used to evacuate waste as part of Government’s sanitation programme.

He said the provision of the equipment was to complement the efforts of the Ministry of Roads and Highways and to add up to the cocoa sector road rehabilitation that was already underway.

President Mahama called on managements of the various centres to maintain the equipment to ensure a long lifespan.

Nii Lante Vanderpuije, a Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, said the policy was government’s intervention to empower the rural people to undertake their projects without financial hindrance.