A travel on most of our roads in the country, will reveal the horror commuters have to endure in order to reach their destinations.
The inconvenience to road users can only be imagined, as the roads are caving in, as well as littered with potholes due to overuse.
The quality of roads in the country, are generally poor and this can be attributed to corruption on the part of officials who collude with contractors, to shortchange Ghanaians.
These poorly build roads, crumble so fast because, in the main, they are equally poorly maintained. Heavy travel on major roads, accelerate the wear and in the process vehicle accidents are common with very high fatality rate.
It is uncommon to travel on a road in Ghana, without a pothole. Even the first class roads, have potholes, example is the Tema Motorway, which expansion work has remained on paper, while the road is becoming a deathtrap.
As a newspaper, we wish to ask, what is the maturity period contractors give for roads constructed in the country?
With the roads in such poor state, when the risky driving habits of Ghanaians drivers is added to the mix, road travel, as inevitable as it is in the country’s context primarily because of its affordability, have tended to be perceived as extremely dangerous.
It is the unarguable poor maintenance culture that is often cited as a major cause of the country’s high rate of traffic fatalities.
The Highway Authority was set up under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, and has a legal duty to maintain sections of the road network and maintain the Strategic Roads Network to make the roads relatively passable pending when there will be a comprehensive reconstruction.
It may be convenient to argue that the roads are bad not necessarily because of a lack of effort on the part of the government to make them good. But because they are the only reliable means of transportation, they are over used and in some cases abused.
Ultimately, in our opinion, the solution to the problem is to hold contractors accountable, when roads start going bad, before their maturity periods.
