The Chairman of Parliament’s Roads and Transport Committee, Samuel Ayeh-Paye has bemoaned the erstwhile National Democratic Congress government’s handling of the roads sector.
He said the sector as inherited by the Akufo-Addo government was a “mess” and highly indebted.
Speaking on The Point of View on Wednesday, Mr. Ayeh-Paye said the NDC government wouldn’t have been able to manage the sector if it inherited what it left for the Akufo-Addo government from the Kufuor government.
“When President [John Agyekum] Kufuor was leaving office, the way he managed the road sector, if it was what the NDC managed when they were leaving office [and handed over to the Akufo-Addo government], I don’t think they would be able to manage the roads.”
“They did not leave any legacy on roads for us. They left us a mess. They left us with debts,” he said.
The country’s roads have generally deteriorated especially with the onset of rains, with many roads in various parts of the country developing deep potholes and galleys, putting them in terrible shape.
Some of the roads have also become immotorable.
In some cases, the poor state of the roads has been attributed to halted projects by contractors.
Some companies that have been awarded road contracts have abandoned road sites, particularly over non-payment.
Some have even had the cause to besiege the Roads ministry to demand their monies claiming that the delay in payment has led to the confiscation of their assets by lenders, the collapse of their businesses and death from frustration.
A Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei Asare, while speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show recently gave assurances that the government was working hard to pay all contractors their monies.
She said the government had between January and August 2019 paid GH¢1.2 billion to road contractors.
But Mr. Ayeh-Paye, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ayensuano in the Eastern Region told Bernard Avle that the government is likely to pay a majority of the contractors they owe by the end of November 2019.
He said but for the NDC government awarding contracts “haphazardly”, the challenges being faced in the sector will not persist.
“I saw contracts awarded haphazardly….That is the result of what we are facing today. You award contracts more than the Ministry of Roads and Highways can contain.