Repair the Diamond Cement road

Page 14, 01-12-07

Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Member of Parliament (MP) for Ketu South, Mr Albert Zigah, has appealed to the Ministry of Transportation to order the contractor who executed the 5.6 kilometre Aflao-Akporkploe (Diamond Cement) road to go back and do the necessary corrections on the project.
He said the rehabilitation of the road, which was completed in July 2007, had started developing potholes and wondered whether the right materials were used by the contractor.
Answering a question posed by the MP on the project in Parliament, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Transportation, Mr Godfrey Bayon Tangu, said the road was awarded in September 2003 in the sum of ¢3.1 billion to M/S Seidu Mahama Limited to be completed in March 2005.
He said the contract was terminated in April 2006 due to non-performance after three warning letters had been issued to the contractor.
He said when the contract was terminated only 12 per cent of civil works had been completed while ¢354 million had been paid to the contractor.
Mr Tangu said the project, which was re-awarded for surfacing in October 2006 in the contract sum of ¢13.4 billion, was completed in July 2007.
Mr Zigah said it was unfortunate that the road was still in a bad condition after a huge amount of ¢13.754 billion had been spent on its rehabilitation by M/S Raja Trading Limited.
The MP expressed sadness that the Aflao-Akporkploe road, which was used by heavy vehicles which transported diamond cement to other parts of the country for the development of the country’s infrastructure, was not being properly taken care of.
He urged the ministry to study the geological features of the road in addition to the axle load so that the necessary corrective measures could be employed by the contractor to prolong the lifespan of the road.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Energy and MP for Nkoranza South Mr Kwame Amporfo Twumasi told Parliament on Thuesday that certain communities in the Atebubu Amanten Constituency would be hooked to the national electricity grid subject to the availability of funds.
The communities are Fanti New Town, Papradon, Fakwas, Old Kokompe, Mem and Boafo.
Answering a question posed by the MP for Atebubu-Amanten, Mr Emmanuel Owusu-Manu, the deputy minister said although the communities form part of the Self-Help Electrification Project-4 programme, they did not form part of the current phase of the project.
Mr Twumasi said that the communities would be considered under the subsequent phases of the programme adding however that the Bresuano community was however, not included in any of the ministry’s on-going electrification projects.