#FixVoltaRoadsnow : Summary of meeting with the Volta Regional Minister and his team

BACKGROUND.

Pursuant to our petition to the President and subsequent press conference where we gave the government upto 15th September, 2019 to fix 3 key roads in Volta namely

1. Juapong to Ho
2. Asikumah to Jasikan
3. Ho to Aflao

And upon the deadline passing without the contractors getting on site. We therefore wrote a letter requesting for a meeting with the Regional Minister. This meeting was to update us on date of commencements of work on those roads mentioned supra.

Attendance at the Meeting

Fix Volta Roads Campaign team was represented by 3 people

1. Andrews Adugu.-Secretary
2. Elvis Bomasah- Organiser
3. Gilbert Attipoe- Member

Regional Minister’s Team

1. Regional Minister
2. Deputy Regional Minister
3. Chief Director VRCC
4. Regional Engineer feeder roads
5. Regional Director Ghana Highways Authority
6. Regional Director, Urban roads
7. Regional Planning Officer
8. P. R. O of VRCC.

Introductions
The Volta Regional Minister introduced his team and we also introduced our team

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We summarized our petition to the President to them and what we required of them in the meeting

FAILURE TO MEET ULTIMATUM

The regional Minister explained that the challenge with all the aforementioned roads is as a result of unavailability of funds to pay contractors to working on the projects.

1.SOKODE – HO DUAL CARRIAGE ROAD

He stated the Sokode to Ho dual carriage road was awarded by the erstwhile Goverment in October 2016 without any specific funds for it. That a number of Road contracts awarded had to be audited. When they came to power they paid an initial amount to the contractor as mobilization amount. That the said contractor China Railway No. 5 company is owed quite a huge amount by government on other projects executed. That notwithstanding, he the Regional Minister has spoken to the Finance Minister and hopefully by the end of this week or early next week the contractor will be paid some money so that he can be persuaded to return to continue works. They are hoping the contractor can do at least one lane before the commencement of Farmers’ day celebration from 8th December, 2019

2. FROM ADOMI BRIDGE TO ASIKUMAH

The contract has been awarded and a contractor has moved to site for roads to be widened with gravel and butimen to be poured on it just as was done to the roads from Tsito to Asikumah months ago

3. SOKODE, BAME TO KPEVE

This contract has been awarded and waiting for funding for works to begin.
Akrofu bridge will be converted to a bailey bridge (, metal bridge) in the meantime to avert possible water challenges from disruption the pipeline on the bridge. Work is to begin in two weeks time. However a permanent concrete bridge will be constructed by the side of the current one when the road construction commences.

4. HO TO AFLAO ROAD.

He stated the Ho to Aflao road has been designated for work to commence on it.

The estimated cost is about 400 million Ghana cedis. This meant to be crush rock base so that in the near future it can be asphalted. They are waiting for funding.
He however indicated contractors have been awarded for spot improvement which includes construction of drainage among other things

He advocated for changing of laws to allow privatization of roads so that private investors can build the roads under build operate and transfer models so that toll boths can be placed to collect adequate amounts to maintain those roads.

ASIKUMAH TO HOHOE STRETCH.

The Kpeve to Hohoe section of the road also needs funding to get works started since there is no specific fund for it.

HOHOE TO JASIKAN
He stated areas beyond Hohoe was now in Oti Region so Oti had to handle that side.
However he informed us that a contractor Rolider has been on site since the last two weeks to make the road passable. That will be mainly grading it to make it more comfortable to drive on.

TIME LINE FOR COMMENCEMENT OF WORK
The regional Minister stated since September has not yet ended we should keep our fingers crossed. He however stated he doesn’t want to commit himself again with specific timelines because of the challenges with funding. However he was hopeful and working assiduously to get the roads attended to.

CONCERNS
He stated they were very concerned about the bad nature of the roads. He however stated the incessant rains had made the roads around the country generally bad

OTHER ROADS

He informed us that the Frankadua Adidome road is being worked on as well as the Kisifle to Osiabura roads. Also the Juapong Volo to Adidome Road is being worked on.

APPRECIATION
He thanked us for taking up this advocacy and congratulated us on how we are carrying on with the advocacy to draw Governments attention to things which need fixing.

The Deputy minister admonished the team to press for such demands irrespective of the government in power.

OBSERVATIONS
The meeting lasted from 3:50pm to 5:10pm. It was a very cordial and informative session.

We urged the Minister to issue press releases or communicate the state of affairs via Facebook live and other forms of media so that we are abreast with the situation on the ground.
We also assured them of continuing the advocacy devoid of insults and attacks. We urged them to keep on pushing and get our roads fixed. We informed them we will brief our members on the outcome of the meeting and take the next appropriate steps
We then took pictures.

fixVoltaRoadsnow.

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Source: Andrews Adugu