Wa, Oct. 11, GNA - Engineering drawings on the Tinga-Bamboi road, which is the last stage of the Wa-Bamboi road project were ready and construction work would soon begin, under the Transport Sector Development Programme scheduled to begin in 2007.

Mr Kwadwo Asare-Awuku, Deputy Chief Executive in charge of maintenance of the Ghana Highways Authority, who disclosed this in Wa on Tuesday, said the whole Bole-Bamboi stretch was not awarded on contract, because funds made available for the construction of that road under the Road Sector Development Project were not enough.

He was briefing the Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Ambrose Dery on the development of roads in the region, after inspecting on-going road projects and those earmarked for rehabilitation in the region. Mr Asare-Awuku said a total of 50 kilometres of roads had been awarded to contractors for tarring but scarcity of stone chippings in the region had slowed the pace of work, while some of the contractors had also defaulted in executing the jobs. He said the bad nature of roads was not peculiar to the Upper West Region, but the whole country and government was doing its best to secure funds for their construction. Until such a time that the Government was able to source funds for the construction of these roads, the people had to be content with the routine maintenance programmes that were being carried out. He accompanied the Regional Minister to inspect an access road earmarked for construction at the Zongo section of Wa. Mr Dery noted that Wa was the only regional capital in the country that was not linked to any other regional capital by a tarred road to the extent that, vehicles were refusing to use the Wa-Bolgatanga road due its deplorable state.

As a result, travellers to Bolgatanga often passed through Tamale, thereby increasing their travelling distance, time and cost. He said less than ten per cent of roads in the region were paved and that was a major hindrance to the over-all development of the region. 11 Oct. 05