Minister invites private participation in road sector

The visit was to congratulate Mr Sulemani on his appointment as minister and also discuss how to improve the road and highway sector, since it played a key role in national growth and development.

The meeting was held behind closed-door.

Briefing journalists later, Mr Sulemani said, “One of the major challenges that continue to affect the road sector is the lack of funds to construct a quality road network. If we are all advocating better roads that will promote development, then it must be noted that the government needs the support of the private sector.”

He said one major target of the ministry was to ensure that Ghana became a major transportation hub in the West African sub-region, adding, “This will attract more investors into the country.”

 Mr Sulemani said one area which was the focus of  the meeting with the US Ambassador was how to attract foreign investors into the roads and highway sector.

He said the US Ambassador expressed concern over the spate of accidents on the George Walker Bush Highway, saying the envoy expressed the hope that measures were being taken to deal with the problem.

According to the minister, he assured the envoy that measures such as the construction of footbridges were being considered to check the spate of accidents, especially pedestrian knockdowns, on the road.

He cited road indiscipline, speeding, poor road designing and disregard for road signs as  some of the major causes of road accidents.

“We also need our engineers to carry out better designing of the roads. One issue that has cropped up is that nowadays road designs are made during the construction, resulting in the doubling of the amount budgeted for the road or affecting the original plan of the road network,” he said.

Mr Sulemani called on the media to educate the public on how to maintain road safety.

Story by Dominic Moses Awiah