Mr Amoako-Atta (left) addressing the meet the press.
A centralised system is being installed to remotely manage traffic lights in Accra, from a Traffic Management Centre, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah has announced.
According to him, the 3.5 million dollar project, which would be completed by June this year, would help detect and promptly fix traffic lights when they malfunction and curb associated dangers.
Addressing journalists when he took his turn at the meet-the-press series yesterday in Accra, he said the control centre, under construction at the Department of Urban Roads Head Office was 61 percent complete.
The problem of faulty traffic lights at many major intersections in the capital has been a source of worry to motorists and pedestrians in the capital, especially in recent time due to the danger it poses to them.
The Ghanaian Times is amongst media houses that have on many occasions reported on the dangers of the faulty lights which plunges major roads into darkness in the night.
But according to Mr Amoako-Attah, the completion of the centre would facilitate rehabilitation of the lights whenever they went dead and to avert accidents due to the situation.
On footbridges, he said six contractors had been engaged to complete six footbridges on the Adenta stretch which were started years ago but were abandoned due to lack of funds.
Describing the deaths recorded on the stretch due to the unavailability of the bridges as unfortunate, the minister gave the assurance that they would be completed by May this year to halt further deaths.
On debts owed contractors, he said the government last year, disbursed Ghc1.9 billion to clear debt owed contractors for various services provided and was making frantic efforts to clear the outstanding debt of Ghc3.94billion.
He rejected the assertion that the government had refused to honour its obligation explaining the government was going all out to secure funds to settle the indebtedness.
The expansion of the Tema Motorway, the minister added, would begin in a few months during which the unavailability of traffic lights and issues of encroachers on the shoulders of the roads would be addressed.
This year, he said about 11,100km of trunk roads, 25,000km of feeder roads and 6,500km of urban roads would be maintained through grading, pothole patching, shoulder maintenance and vegetation control.
As part of efforts to address and modernise general toll collection methods on roads across the country, he announced that a new tolling policy would be launched this year.
With tolls representing the second biggest share of revenue to the Ghana Road Fund, the policy, he said would not only improve revenue mobilisation efforts by the Ministry but block revenue losses and leakages.
By Jonathan Donkor and Frederick Gadese-Mensah
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