A Deputy Minister for Roads and Highways has said President Nana Akufo-Addo‘s claim that his government has constructed more than 11,000 kilometres of roads has been misunderstood.
Mr Stephen Pambiin Jalulah said if that assertion is to believed only of newly constructed roads, then there would not be any bad road in the country.
According to him, the President’s assertion also includes periodic (not routine) maintenance works.
Speaking on The Probe on JoyNews on Sunday, March 12, the Pru West MP said the term built in construction terms include other ancillary works.
“…No. If a government could do 10, 000 roads in one term, I’m sure that we would not have bad roads in Ghana.
“It meant what I was trying to define, it meant everything except routine maintenance. It means everything the government has invested money in to improve road access in the country.
“That is what he meant by that. So in the context he (President Akufo-Addo) said, he meant periodic maintenance as well,” he told host, Blessed Sogah.
Jalulah defined routine maintenance to include vegetation control, desilting of drains, gravelling and reshaping of roads.
President Akufo-Addo has declared that his administration has built more roads than any other government in Ghana’s 4th Republic history.
Delivering the State of the Nation address in Parliament on Wednesday, March 8, President Akufo-Addo said the majority of monies borrowed have gone into the construction of roads.
“Mr Speaker, I am proud of the amount of work that we have done, especially in the road sector. Roads constitute the largest number of questions asked in this House by Members of Parliament; a large amount of the monies we borrow are for road construction. Shall we dare stop constructing roads?
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“Mr Speaker, I would like to state categorically that this Government has built more roads than any government in the history of the 4th Republic, and Mr Speaker, the details of all these roads are attached in the annex to this message.
“I have done so because, last year, when I made a similar pronouncement, I was met with howls and gasps of incredulity from the Minority benches, and so I thought it’s appropriate, this time, to present it as an annex to the statement, which will be part of Hansard.”
The President’s claim, however, has been disputed by the Minority in Parliament who say it cannot be true and that Ghanaians should disregard it.