Veep calls on Judiciary to deal sternly with reckless drivers

The vice president has called on the judiciary to deal sternly with reckless drivers whose actions lead to the loss of lives on the roads.

Lamenting on the rampant carnage on the country’s roads, he observed that when the roads were in poor shape it rather kept citizens alive but when it was in good shape it turned into virtual slaughter houses.

“The judiciary and the law enforcement agencies must begin to deal severely with drivers who overlook simple precautions to serve as a deterrent to others and once that is done we will see discipline on our roads,” he said.

Vice-President John Mahama made the statement when he cut the sod for reconstruction work to begin on the 60 km Assin Praso-Asante Bekwai road in the central region.

Vice-President Mahama said the road was crucial not only for inter-regional and international trade but also to lessen the travel time commuters spend on that stretch of road.

He spoke of plans by the government to undertake a major overhaul of socio-economic infrastructure in order to make the country a competitive destination for foreign and local private investment.

The Vice-President mentioned the Sawla-Fufulso road, Eastern corridor and the Western corridor road projects, Twifo-Praso and the Dunwka roads as some of the projects that would soon come on-stream.

He expressed appreciation to the Japanese government for extending financial support to Ghana, saying, now that the Yen loan portfolio had been restored, the country was likely to benefit more from such support in the future.

Mr. Joe Gidisu, Minister of Roads and Highways said the Assin-Praso-Asante Bekwai road underwent major improvement between 1990 and 1996 with support from the Japanese government.

The road, however, experienced early deterioration due to sharp increase in vehicular traffic volumes than anticipated, he said, saying, it was abused due to overloading by trucks.

When completed, he said the road would facilitate transportation of farm produce from the North to market centres in the Western and Central regions of the country.

Mr. Keiichi Katakami, the Japanese Ambasador said the road could not be completed without the cooperation of residents nearby and entreated the residents to bear with any inevitable inconveniences.

“Through this multi-national joint work, I believe that the workers and the supervisory team can exchange not only technical knowledge but also other work related matters such as ethics and management style.”

The project, which involves the construction of a two-lane two-way single carriageway and the reconstruction of the bridge over the Pra river, is being financed with a $ 100 million grant from the Japanese government.

Expected to be completed in 2013, the project forms part of the National Trunk Road namely, the Yamoransa-Anwiankwanta-Kumasi road that links Abura Dunkwa, Assin Fosu, Assin Praso in the Central region, Fomena, Asante Bekwai, Kokofu, Kuntenase and Kumasi in the Ashanti region and beyond.







Story: Irene Ata-Donto
25/1/11