Ghana’s Road Fund yields GH¢1.4b in 12 years
An amount of GH¢1.474 billion was realized from road funds in Ghana between 2000 and 2012.
The fund also carried forward a debt of GH¢206.6 million from the year 2012 to 2013, which showed an increase in the previous year’s indebtedness by GH¢180.5 million.
The Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Isaac Kyei Mensah, disclosed this at a public forum on the Road Fund in Kumasi to educate stakeholders in the transport industry on the need to contribute to the Road Fund.
He added that revenue that accrued to the fund annually had consistently increased from GH¢24.8 million in 2000 to GH¢35.8 million.
According to the minister, it had been projected that for the year 2013, the mangers of the fund would be able to collectGH¢303.67 million to enable it to meet part of the road maintenance budget for agencies which subsist on the fund to undertake their maintenance programmes and activities.
He said though Ghanaians did contribute by way of user fees and tolls to the Road Fund for the maintenance of the roads that alone was not enough, and explained that the current capacity of the road fund could only sustain about 60 percent of the road maintenance need.
He said the cost of resurfacing one-kilometer of road was GH¢135,000, while resealing cost GH¢70,000 per kilometer.
To help supplement the fund, Mr Kyei Mensah said the government has been exploring other financial options such as long term pre-financing to carry out road maintenance.
He advised road users to be aware of the immense benefits to be realized from all-weather motorable roads.
In a presentation of funding roads maintenance, a board member of the Ghana Road Fund Board, Professor Mohammed Salifu, said the objective of the road fund was to cater for sustainable road maintenance and also support activities of metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.
He revealed that the rapid growth in vehicle population, which increased almost 10-fold in the last 20 years, had also become a challenge to the fund.
Professor Salifu added that the same number of roads were being used by the large number of vehicles and, therefore, appealed to the government to address the problem as the lack of road maintenance led to higher vehicle operating cost.
Source: Daily Graphic