Accra: Despite challenges in the road sector, the Government would take steps to fix bad roads and encourage 'competitive bidding' for road contracts, President John Mahama said on Thursday. Presenting his first State of The Nation Address to Parliament in Accra, he indicated plans to execute initiatives such as the 'Big Push' Programme, to rehabilitate feeder roads, urban roads, and highways.
According to Ghana News Agency, the President stated that the Government intended to minimise sole-source procurement in the sector to encourage competitive bidding and enhance public transparency in procurement processes. He announced plans to reintroduce tolls using modern technology, rationalise the Road Sector Portfolio to focus on high-impact initiatives, and de-cap the Road Fund.
Mr Mahama also addressed claims regarding the previous government's achievements, rejecting the assertion that 13,000 kilometres of new roads had been constructed, citing a lack of supporting evidence. He revealed that road construction equipment acquired by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration under the District Road Improvement Project (DRIP) would be reorganised into Regional mobile maintenance units to handle emergency road works.
The President highlighted the sector's crisis, attributing it primarily to years of mismanagement. He disclosed that 85 per cent of awarded contracts had stalled, with contractors halting work due to non-payment. As of December 2024, unpaid bills owed to contractors exceeded GHS 20 billion for work carried out between 2018 and 2024.
He pointed out that the Ghana Road Fund, which secured a loan of GHS 600 million in March 2018 to refinance outstanding debts, had not settled all its obligations. Shockingly, upon taking office, the Fund still faced outstanding payments, some as low as GHS 2,000, dating back to 2018. Current commitments for road projects now total an astonishing GHS 105 billion.
Despite these challenges, President Mahama expressed the Government's steadfast commitment to prioritising vital infrastructure projects to address the pressing backlog of poor roads. He noted that the proportion of poor roads in urban areas had surged from 46 per cent in 2015 to 57 per cent by 2021.
