President John Dramani Mahama has said every region in Ghana will benefit from his government’s flagship Big Push infrastructure programme.
The president explained that the project is designed to revolutionise Ghana’s road network and improve national connectivity.
According to him, the Big Push programme is aimed at opening economic opportunities, improving food distribution networks, and making travel between regions and districts easier.
Speaking at the first launch of the programme at Afienya in the Greater Accra, John Mahama stated, “From January 7, we have been designing road projects across the length and breadth of the country. The Big Push touches all 16 regions of the country. Every region is going to benefit from its share of the Big Push programme”.
“Our priority was to take roads that connect one regional capital to another. We believe that it should be easy for people to travel from one capital to another, for example, from Accra to Ho, or Accra to Cape Coast,” he explained.
He further revealed that the second priority is roads linking district capitals. “We have 261 districts in Ghana, and we believe that districts that are close should have good roads linking their district capitals to each other”.
President Mahama added that the third priority is road infrastructure in food-producing and industrial manufacturing areas.
“We selected all the major food-growing areas in the country, looked at the roads in those areas, and added them to the Big Push,” he added.
Also, Minister for Roads and Highways, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has reiterated that the Big Push road project will be completed in under 24 months.
Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Mr Agbodza stated, “Mr President, if you come to the Ministry of Roads and Highways, we owe probably 40 billion Ghana cedis in debt to contractors”.
“But when we went round the country, the 16 regions, it was difficult to see what the money was spent on.”
He added, “Despite all that, Mr President, you made a bold commitment to institute an intervention that will go down in history as the president that gave the biggest dose of intervention at a single time on our roads”.
“The Big Push is not a campaign promise; it is a bold intervention by your government.”
Mr Agbodza further assured, “When we say we can do this project within four months, we mean business. The people of Greater Accra and Ga-Dangbe, don’t be worried”.
“The contractor that is on this stretch, I believe, can do this project in less than 24 months.”
“We shall implement Big Push, and the results will be there for everyone to see,” he confidently added.
Additionally, Governs Kwame Agbodza, before the launch, had already revealed the John Mahama-led Big Push projects will be completed in twenty-four months.
The roads minister revealed that the Big Push road projects have been deliberately structured to span two years.
According to Agbodza, under the reset agenda, if there’s any evidence of a three-month delay by a contractor, they will write it into the contract and terminate it.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Agbodza detailed, “The average Ghanaian has come to accept something that is completely unacceptable, because they see road projects start around their backyard, and no one can tell them when it will be completed. We want to reset. ‘Reset’ means we need to change that narrative”.
“All the projects have been deliberately structured to span two years, 24 months, and we will not go beyond that. Sometimes, a contractor is awarded 100 kilometres of road. People forget that constructing 100 kilometres is not a small undertaking.
There may be people who are more interested in how much it costs — they focus on the money involved. So contractors take the job, and for seven or eight years, they do nothing. We want to avoid that”, he added.
The road minister emphasised that the project will go strictly with its timeline of completion, “From now on, Big Push — which is something we needed like yesterday — will work differently. When we award you 20 kilometres of road and say complete it in 24 months, we expect you to finish ahead of schedule.
If there’s any evidence of a three-month delay, we’ll write it into the contract: we terminate. We are not going to wait. If you like, go to court.
“No contractor is compelled to participate in Big Push, but if you do, you must be prepared to work 24/7. You must be ready to deliver within 12 months unless something extremely unforeseen happens, and we’ll be the ones to determine that.”
Governs Kwame Agbodza further revealed that there is a lack of effective supervision of road projects, as some project expected to last 15 years fails within 6 months.
The road minister added, “Another problem we’ve noticed is the lack of effective supervision, either by third-party service providers like consultants or by our own staff from the various agencies.
There is evidence that most of them did not perform the way they should. For instance, a road is built that’s supposed to last 15 years, and it fails in six months, then we have to look for more money to fix it again. That cannot continue”.
Agbodza warned that contractors who want to participate in any activity at the Ministry must demonstrate technical capability.
He asserted, “You must take the appropriate steps, including securing the right insurance. The days when a contractor gets an insurance firm to issue a piece of paper, thinking we’ll never cash it when things go wrong, are over. Let me remind you, this time around, we’ll be very happy to cash it”.
The road minister further clarified that the Big Push project is not only about a road project, but also a special vehicle to address the interconnectivity.