Sod-cutting does not build roads; release funds – Minority to government

The Minority in parliament has accused government of cutting sods for road projects without releasing the necessary funds for executing the projects.

They have also said government’s 2020 year of roads mantra is only a mirage.

According to the NDC MPs, allocations in the 2020 budget for roads can only pay arrears of contractors for works done in the past.

Taking his turn in the debate on the 2020 budget in parliament, the minority spokesperson on roads and transport Governs Kwame Agbodza charged the Road minister to demand for more resources from the Finance Minister in order to be able to address agitations for good roads across the country

He said “we don’t build roads by sod cutting. If you are building roads, you will see the contractors on the site. So the government should stop cutting sod for road projects which are not ongoing. It’s not about sod-cutting, put the money into the projects and we will see the results“.

“Mr Speaker, they cut sod for tamale interchange. People from Tamale, the Sino-hydro project at tamale interchange, is it going on, is there any contractor on the site,” he quizzed.”

He charged the government to “put the money into the project. I dare say, the GHC1.2 billion allocated by the ministry as road infrastructure in the 2020 budget as compared to the 2.2 billion dollars required to do the project only on table 21. In fact, this doesn’t include ongoing projects.

“Mr Speaker, this government is not telling us the truth, they don’t intend to build these. Otherwise, they should have shown us anywhere in the budget where 2.2 billion dollars will be found.

However, chairman for the Committee Samuel Aye-Paye disagreed with the claims.