The Minister for Roads and Highways, Governs Kwame Agbodza, says this year's heavy rains are exposing the quality of road construction across the country, urging contractors on the
The report indicates that the Minister for Roads and Highways, Governs Kwame Agbodza, says this year’s heavy rains are exposing the quality of road construction across the country, urging contractors on the Big Push projects to construct proper drainage systems to protect the roads.
It further notes that speaking during a monitoring tour of ongoing Big Push road projects in the Volta Region, Mr Agbodza emphasised that roads must be designed with adequate drainage infrastructure to channel floodwaters effectively and prevent premature deterioration.
“The rains this year have exposed the way we used to do things in the past,” he said.
Mr Agbodza noted that rainfall should not be viewed as an unfortunate event but rather as a natural occurrence that road infrastructure must be built to withstand.
He stated contractors have a responsibility to ensure that every aspect of road construction, from drainage design to earthworks and compaction, is executed to specification.
The minister therefore urged contractors to ensure that drainage channels are properly designed and sized to accommodate stormwater while ensuring that compaction and other engineering standards are not compromised.
“So we make sure the drains, the sizing of the drains, the compaction—everything is up to standard, so that normal rainfall should not wash away our roads and leave us with excuses simply because it has rained,” he added.
Despite the caution, Mr Agbodza expressed satisfaction with the progress of some of the projects inspected, saying he was confident the contractors would complete the remaining works within schedule.
The minister indicated that one of the projects inspected, the rehabilitation of the Atimpoku–Asikuma Junction road, being undertaken by Dwawill Limited, had earlier been earmarked for contract termination because of its poor pace of work.
According to him, the contractor was issued with an ultimatum after failing to make satisfactory progress at the beginning of the year.
“This project was one of the projects we threatened to terminate at the beginning of the year because initially they were not working, and we gave them a deadline and told them that we’d terminate,” Mr Agbodza disclosed.
He stated officials of the contracting firm were subsequently summoned to the ministry and warned that the contract would be terminated unless work improved significantly.
The warning, he noted, produced the desired results.
“According to the regional director, they have backed up and have gone ahead of schedule. They were supposed to do 30 percent; they have done about 40 percent,” he said.
