Pay Contractors to Resume Pokuase–Nsawam Road Works – NPP’s Kamal-Deen Tells Gov’t

Deputy National Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alhaji Kamal-Deen Abdulai, has urged government to immediately resolve the compensation challenges stalling the rehabilitation of the Pokuase–Nsawam road by paying contractors to return to site.

Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Monday, August 18, Alhaji Kamal-Deen said the situation demands urgent intervention and should not be trivialised with partisan politics.

“If the compensation is the issue, Ato Forson, you are listening. You have given GH¢4 billion to the Road Ministry; instruct them out of the money to pay the contractors GH¢300 million and let them go back to the site. This is a straightforward matter. Let us tackle it head-on and once and for all. Let us, with all respect, take politics out of it and look at technical issues,” he appealed.

His comments follow a strike threat by the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) over the deplorable condition of the Pokuase–Nsawam stretch. According to the union, the road has become a death trap, causing severe delays and frequent accidents, and requires urgent repairs.

On Saturday, August 16, the GPRTU’s National Deputy Public Relations Officer, Samuel Amoah, told Channel One Newsroom that the union had issued government a one-week ultimatum to get contractors back to work. The ultimatum expires on Wednesday, August 20.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, has revealed that government owes road contractors an estimated GH¢21 billion in arrears. He noted, however, that the administration is preparing to settle GH¢4 billion of this amount to allow contractors to return to site and resume work.