President John Dramani Mahama says Ghana’s road sector is in a crisis, citing years of mismanagement and non-payment of contractors as key issues stalling progress.
Delivering his first State of the Nation Address in his second term on Thursday, February 27, President Mahama pointed out that “as of December 2024, unpaid bills owed to contractors exceeded GH₵ 20 billion for work carried out between 2018 and 2024.”
He added that the proportion of poor roads has worsened, particularly in urban areas, where roads in disrepair increased from 46% in 2015 to 57% by 2021.
“The road sector is in crisis, mainly due to years of mismanagement. As many as 85% of awarded contracts have been stalled, and contractors have stopped work due to non-payment,” he said.
President Mahama also challenged the previous government’s claim of achieving “unprecedented milestones” in road construction, stating that the available evidence does not support assertions of delivering over 13,000 kilometres of new roads.
[embedded content]He further noted that the Ghana Road Fund had borrowed heavily in past years, including a GH₵ 600 million loan in 2018 and an additional GH₵ 1.2 billion in 2019 to refinance debts. Despite this, outstanding payments dating back to 2018 remain unsettled, with current road project commitments reaching GH₵ 105 billion.
Despite these challenges, President Mahama reaffirmed his government’s commitment to addressing Ghana’s deteriorating road network through strategic infrastructure investments under the “Big Push” Programme.
“The Big Push will focus on major rehabilitation projects across the feeder roads, urban roads, and highway sectors. We will also introduce key initiatives to revitalise the road sector,” he stated.
These initiatives include: Reintroducing tolls using modern technology, rationalising the road sector portfolio to focus on high-impact projects, de-capping the road fund and minimising sole-source procurement to promote competitive bidding and transparency.
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