It was all joy at Pakyi No 1 in the Ashanti Region when the Minister for Roads and Highways, Mr. Francis Asenso-Boakye cut the sod for the commencement of work on the Pakyi-Antoakrom road project.
The residents could not hide their excitement when the Minister and his team of officials arrived in the community for what they described a historic event, having endured the effects of bad roads for many years.
According to them, they have been calling on successive governments to fix their roads, which have been in bad shape for years and could not help but appreciate the intention to tackle an age-long problem confronting them.
The Manso enclave is known as one of the areas in Ashanti Region with poor road network despite being a hub for mining and food production.
Inhabitants have been in the news severally for protesting the bad nature of their roads as they sought government’s intervention to enable them transport farm produce and other goods to market centres.
It is against this background that they wer
e seen singing the praise of government openly in appreciation for attending to one of their pressing needs as a community.
The 24.6 kilometre project is expected to bring relief to the thousands of people living along the stretch while enhancing business activities for socio-economic development.
Also awarded to contracts are the internal roads of Pakyi No 1 and Pakyi No 2, totalling 4.2 kilometres.
‘We are eternally grateful to the government for finally coming to our aid after years of waiting to get our roads fixed,’ Kofi Agyei, a middle-aged man told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) with excitement.
He said their expectation was that beyond the ceremony the roads would actually be fixed, saying that they had previously witnessed a situation where a certain contractor abandoned site after constructing drains and only left with the application of bitumen.
Mr. Asenso-Boakye assured them of uninterrupted construction of the roads, and introduced the two contractors tasked to execute the projects.
He acknowl
edged how the people had suffered over the years due to bad roads and urged them to cooperate with the contractors to deliver quality work for their own benefit.
The Minister advised residents to resist temptations to connive with workers to steal materials meant for the project in order not to compromise the quality of work.
He said despite the global devastation of economies by the COVID-19 pandemic, the government remained resolute in providing essential amenities to improve livelihoods across the country.
‘I wish to urge Ghanaians to bear with the government as it takes steps to mobilise resources to fix roads gradually because it is practically impossible to tackle all of them at a go,’ the Minister noted.
Mr. Simon Osei Mensah, the Ashanti Regional Minister, said the Region had benefitted immensely in terms of road projects under this administration, but people did not appreciate because of the level of deterioration of roads in the region.
‘This government has constructed roads in this region than
any other government and the Regional Coordinating Council would soon update the public on the number of roads constructed in the last seven years,’ he assured.
Source: Ghana News Agency
