The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT-Ghana) has observed that majority of the country’s local roads which have been constructed by local contractors have found themselves in deplorable states as compared to those awarded to expatriate companies.
This observation was revealed at the CILT-Ghana’s 4th Transport Fleet Management Workshop in Accra when the President of the Institute, Ebo Hammond said efforts needed to be taken to ensure quality of our road works.
He said CILT-Ghana is concerned with the state of roads in the country and the quality of new ones being constructed.
According to Ebo Hammond, although there are some local contractors who do quality jobs and whose handiworks last the test of time, majority of local contactors who work on most roads in the country turned to do ‘shoddy’ work which goes a long way to affect the State purse.
He said these contractors are blamable for the many road crashes accross the country.
Ebo Hammond also indicated that these bad contractors and the bad roads that have been constructed, are killing Ghanaians on daily basis.
He said until efforts are made by local contractors to ensure quality jobs that can stand over time, road crashes will continue to increase and the devastating effects on the nation will be enormous.
He however called on the Ghana Road Contractors Association to ensure that their members improve on the quality of road contracts awarded to them.
“This will help save the taxpayers’ money, reduce cost of vehicle maintenance and support government efforts at ensuring good network of road infrastructure for the country,” he said.
He said CILT-Ghana has taken notice of the improvement of infrastructure by government of the aviation sector and it’s efforts in helping the establishment of vehicle assembly plants in the country.
Ebo Hammond averred that government as a major vehicle owner must ensure that it purchase all its fleets of vehicles from these plants to ensure economic of scale, job maintenance and to guarantee investments.
By Prosper Agbenyega