A year from now, residents of Dome-Kwabenya will no longer go through the daily ritual of plying on bad roads within the constituency.
This follows the award of some major roads within the constituency that are in a very deplorable state to a contractor, Ghacos Ghana Limited.
The scope of work to be carried out by the contractor includes construction of 1.5km of dual carriage way from Dome Roundabout to Taifa with provision for roadside drains; construction of ancillary roads to improve traffic management and safety in the area; construction of 750 metres of storm drainage works to reduce the perennial flooding in the area, construction of walkways along the roads to improve pedestrian safety; and erecting of streetlights to improve visibility at night for both motorists and pedestrians.
Other roads earmarked to benefit from this facelift are Old and New Agbogba, Haatso, Dome Pillar 2 (Ante Mary), Kwabenya and Abokobi.
The cost of the project is GH₵19.093 million, with contract duration of 12 months.
Speaking at a sod-cutting ceremony to commence work on the dilapidated road networks in Accra, the Second Deputy Majority Leader and Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Sarah Adwoa Safo, lauded her constituents for enduring the discomfort of plying such bad roads.
She told her constituents that if the bad road networks within the constituency were a priority of the past National Democratic Congress government, they would have fixed it long time ago to spare her the insults from the public.
Safo, who is also the Minister of State in charge of Public Procurement, urged the residents to fully corporate with the contractor and remove all unwanted structures from the road network to enable him perform his task.
Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta told the gathering that roads within the Dome-Kwabenya constituency are very important ones since they serve as a link to some other important roads, including the main Accra-Kumasi highway.
"This is unprecedented. This is the first of its kind, not only in the Greater Accra Region but for the whole country. This is going to open the gateway for a number of road projects under the leadership of His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo", he stated.
Competitive bidding
The project, he said, was awarded to M.F. Ghacos Ghana Limited after going through a very rigid national competitive bidding process, stressing that under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo, "sole sourcing, selective tendering, price quotation and the likes are a thing of the past unless it is absolutely necessary as prescribed under the Public Procurement Act. Otherwise, all road contracts and, for that matter, all contracts will be subjected to competitive bidding for us to get the best contractor to undertake any job for Ghanaians to have value for money."
Prompt payment
Amoako-Attah bemoaned the deplorable state of most road networks across the country and attributed it to the non-payment of contractors who deliver their side of the bargain.
However, he promised that under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo, any contract that will be awarded will be backed with money to ensure prompt payment to the contractor after delivery.
While appealing to residents of the area, especially those who have encroached on the road corridor, to give way to the contractor, he also tasked the monitoring team of the Ministry of Roads and Highways and the Department of Urban Roads to ensure that the project is undertaken to the standards and specification of the ministry.
Value for money
Amoako-Attah admonished the contractor to work and deliver on time since there would be no room to entertain excuses and delay of the work.
Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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