President John Dramani Mahama has indicated that the government will roll out its Big Push road projects in phases, citing budgetary constraints.
According to him, the government cannot undertake all outstanding road projects simultaneously and must instead prioritise projects based on available resources.
“Everybody thinks that we can do all their roads at once. We cannot do that. There’s a limit to the budget that we have,” President Mahama said.
He added that the government is already working beyond the first phase of the programme, with additional projects being prepared for subsequent stages.
“And so there’s Big Push Phase 1, we’re scoping Big Push Phase 2, and there’ll be a Big Push Phase 3,” he stated.
President Mahama made the remarks on the first day of his two-day Resetting Ghana Tour of the Upper West Region, where he inspected the Wa–Han road project being undertaken under the Big Push programme.
He said the government’s approach is to first focus on major trunk roads, particularly routes connecting regional capitals, before extending the programme to feeder roads linking communities and towns to the main road network.
“As we go, we’ll move from the trunk roads to the other feeder roads that link up with the trunk roads,” he explained.
President Mahama said completing the major routes would improve access for residents who use feeder roads to connect to the main network.
He noted that several other roads in the region had been identified for development and would be addressed progressively as the different phases of the Big Push programme are implemented.
On the Wa–Han project, President Mahama expressed confidence in the quality of work and said he expected to return to the region the following year to commission the completed road.
“We’ll be here next year to come and commission the road, and I’m sure that the quality of the road will be good,” he said.
He further disclosed that after the double-surface dressing is completed, the road would eventually receive an asphalt seal from Wa to Bolgatanga.
“After we do the double-surface dressing, we will then seal the whole road with asphalt from Wa to Bolga, so that at least we know that for the next 30 years, the road will last and will require just very little maintenance,” President Mahama said.
