ENGINEERS ASKED TO BE PRUDENT (PAGE 43)

THE Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has urged road engineers and other technocrats to be prudent in their activities because of the huge commitment of the country’s financial resources to road construction and its rehabilitation.
He said road projects that had been charged to the Consolidated Fund were in excess of GH¢800 million over a period of three years (2009-2011), while the Road Fund had also been over-committed to the extent that road maintenance activities would be jeopardised until the end of the year.
The Vice-President expressed these concerns when he addressed a road sub-sector retreat organised by the Ministry of Roads and Highways at Koforidua last Thursday.
The three-day event, on the theme “Towards Better Roads Management”, was attended by road engineers, technicians and technocrats drawn from all parts of the country, as well as some regional directors of the Road Safety Commission and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).
It was to take stock of the sector’s activities and plan for the future with the view to ensuring prudent management.
According to the Vice-President, the seriousness of the situation was that the over-commitment of financial resources had on two occasions compelled the authorities to contract funds from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), which delayed the completion of road projects.
He said apart from that, some of the contracts were poorly executed, abandoned or awarded to contractors who, under normal circumstances, could not execute such projects and therefore, had to sell them to competent ones.
Mr Mahama, who said all those factors had adversely affected road construction and rehabilitation, therefore, asked all those responsible for such malpractices to mend their ways.
The Vice-President said the public expected managers of roads to ensure that roads were well constructed to reduce traffic congestion and also, with the proper functioning of traffic lights, prevent motor accidents and that all these must be done within budgetary allocation.
Referring to the recent postings and changes in positions of personnel within the Ministry of Roads and Highways, its agencies and department, Mr Mahama stated that the changes were properly carried out to ensure good management.
He expressed the hope that the participants would come out with ideas that would further improve the road sector.
The Minister of Roads and Transport, Mr Joe Gidisu, said the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) had committed itself to over 300 projects to be executed from 2009 to 2011, explaining that the projects were estimated at GH¢833,000,819 to be paid from the Consolidated Fund while the budget for their execution was GH¢51,955,605.
Mr Gidisu, who described the situation as worrying, said similarly the Department of Urban Roads (DUR) also had committed itself to certain projects over the same period, which had the value of GH¢253,101,600 with a budget of GH¢11,700,000 in 2009, while the Department of Feeder Roads (DFR) also had a budget of GH¢10,363,113 for commitments of GH¢59,540,000, adding that the budget for 2009 was exhausted in the first quarter of the year.
With regard to the projects, the minister stated that the GHA had committed itself to 322 projects, DFR 541 and the DUR 203, adding that if the ministry was to improve the performance of the sector, there was the need to rationalise dormant and non-performing projects, while some of them would have to be re-packaged or terminated.
Mr Gidisu also told the gathering that the government had recently negotiated US$225 million for the transport sector and that the implementation of the Awoshie-Pokuase Integrated Project was expected to be negotiated, while ongoing projects such as the urban transport and others funded by the African Development Bank, BADEA and the Saudi Fund had been unduly delayed.
Earlier in his welcoming address, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Mr Alex Twumasi, said since the global economic recession was likely to affect the funding of road projects in the country, it was, therefore, necessary for technocrats in the road industry to ensure that the scarce financial resources available would be judiciously utilised.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, who chaired the function, briefed the gathering on the state of the road network in the region and said while some were good, others especially feeder roads, were bad and called for more attention to be paid to them.
He also called for the speedy rehabilitation of the Apedwa-Nsawam stretch of the Accra-Kumasi Highway so that motorists from the Kumasi who had now resorted to going by the Mamfe-Pantang Highway would revert to the normal route to save time.