The Ghanaian Government has just announced the latest stage of its long running road development programme. At a ceremony on 22 November, Ghana's President John Agyekum Kufuor broke the first piece of ground to start of the reconstruction of the 58.8 km section of the Tema-Aflao Highway. Of course, as with many road construction projects in Africa, the concern has to be over the safety provisions of the project.
Ghana's National Road Safety Commission has been active in raising awareness of the issue but despite the Government allocating some resources to road safety, in recent years funding specifically allocated for safety measures in road construction projects has been low.
So far, the major concerns over schemes such as the Tema-Aflao upgrade have been over finding adequate financing overall. However, there has also been some attention paid to safety.
At the launch of the Tema-Aflao project, Ghana's Minister for Transportation Dr. Richard Anane, said the section of highway was one of the three most accident prone road corridors in the country. He noted that adequate road safety measures had been incorporated in the design to enhance the safety of commuters. Let's hope his words are borne out by the actual construction work which will follow and that all road users are taken into consideration.
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