Bawumia never said all roads in the country will be change to concrete

The Technical Advisor to the Office of the Vice President, Dr Kaburi Mahama has refutes reports that the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia promised Ghanaians all roads in the country will be changed to concrete roads.

Speaking on Weekly Press Review on GTV, monitored by GhanaPlus.com on Friday, April 8, he said Dr Bawumia made mention of concrete roads and the steps government is taking to replicate same in the country and never made a promise as reported.

“The vice president mentioned the issue of concrete roads and the steps that government is being taking to address that and he commission one in Tema, we are aware but he didn’t say that,” he said.

“The Vice President never said anywhere that all roads in the country will be changed from asphalt or bitumen to concrete; he never said that anywhere so we need to put that in context,” Dr Kabiru stressed.

 Dr Kabiru Mahama made the comment while responding to a statement made by the former Member of Parliament for the Buem Constituency, Mr Daniel Kwesi Ashiamah that he was expecting the Vice President to speak on the progress on the concrete roads he mentioned some years ago.

Gov’t to construct move from asphalt to concrete roads – Dr Bawumia

 The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is reported in 2017 to have hinted government has decided to construct concrete roads instead of asphalt.

Report said he made the announcement at a ceremony to dedicate a new temple for the Harvest International Ministries in response to a proposal made by the Charismatic Bishops Conference, led by the Presiding Bishop of Light House Chapel International (LCI) Bishop Dag Heward-Mills to among other things consider the construction of concrete roads in the country.

“Some months ago I heard that Bishop Dag Heward Mills talked about building and he made similar comment here yet just this two roads to Accra Kumasi we haven’t been able to build. He made a every every insightful comment about why is it that we are not building our roads with concrete and rather doing all this asphalt bitumen stuff which the roads just get washed away in two seasons. You look at Tema Motor way which was built it concrete and is lasting almost 50years and so that sort of got me thinking and we started that discussions, is a simply idea but is full of wisdom. I checked and I realized that even in India since 2014 in India they have a policy to only build concrete roads because it works out much cheaper so I said well let me bring this to my bosses and we have been discussing this as recently as last week in Parliament and Bishop Dag, I will let you into it Cabinet did decide last week that we should move towards concrete roads as a country”.

Daily Guide report, Dr Bawumia, again in 2017 while addressing a congregation of the LCI at the Independent Square during the 2017, Easter Friday Service said plans are far advanced to construct concrete roads across the country.

He explained government in consultation with engineers from the Ministry of Roads, has discovered that concrete roads last longer and is also less expensive than asphalted ones hence the decision.

“When we did the analysis and costing, we realized that a kilometer of a dual carriage concrete road will cost the country $3.8 million and that of asphalt $2.8 million, but the concrete road will last for 40 years while the asphalt will last for only ten years,” DailyGuide report said on May 3, 2017 quoted the Vice President.

However, some four years on, much have not been heard or seen about the concrete roads.

Source: GhanaPlus.com