Roads Ministry To Adopt Public Private Financing

The Ministry of Roads and Highways has commenced arrangements to adopt the public-private partnership (PPP) model for financing road construction. Projects under consideration for the PPP arrangement are the Accra-Takoradi road, Accra-Kumasi (Dualisation), Accra-Tema Motorway and the construction of a flyover and vehicular interchange over the motorway at the Teshie Link. A transaction advisor has been engaged to carry out feasibility studies to determine the financial viability of the projects. The sector minister, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, who announced this in Accra yesterday, said the final report on the projects was expected by the end of the month. He also announced that a new sector medium-term development plan based on the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda II (2014-2017) had been developed. He explained that the plan took cognisance of challenges encountered in the implementation of the 2010-2013 plan and had drawn lessons to improve performance in the follow-up plan. Road maintenance On road maintenance, Alhaji Fuseini said by June 2014 routine maintenance had been undertaken on 11,438 kilometres of trunk roads and 4,994 kilometres of the feeder road network, among others. The minister also said as of June 30, 2014, GH�27.8 million had been collected at 38 toll stations. To further enhance toll revenues, he said specialised advance (prepaid) toll stickers for one month, three months and a year are being sold for use on particular roads while specialised stickers were being issued at the request of motorists, adding that efforts were also underway to produce e-cards for sale to motorists. Law on axle load Alhaji Fuseini said the ministry was vigorously pursuing the implementation of the law on axle load limit and this had resulted in a decline in the trend of over-loading. He added that 16 permanent axle load weighing stations had been constructed and were enforcing the limits at various locations. Chinese loan Alhaji Fuseini said about $234 million of the China Development Bank (CDB) loan was being committed to the completion of the La Beach Road (Accra-Tema) project and the Accra Intelligent Management Traffic System. He said the contract had already been signed, and the Ministry of Finance was awaiting the approval of the subsidiary agreement by the CDB. He also announced that five district capitals and five major town roads in six regions had been earmarked for upgrading to bituminous surfacing under the Department of Feeder Roads programme, adding that the projects had been awarded and the contracts signed.