The Ministry of Roads and Highways, Kwesi Amoako-Attah, has ordered for the destruction of an illegal road pavement at Tema Community 12, Tema Metropolis, which was undertaken by a private individual.
Minister orders destruction of illegal road pavement in Tema
Minister orders destruction of illegal road pavement in Tema
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The individual, who was identified as Mr Samuel Opoku Arthur, illegally paved the street in front of his residence using 'substandard blocks' without permit or informing the Department of Urban Roads.
In addition, attempts by assembly authorities and urban roads officials to have a meeting with Mr Arthur over road pavement were unsuccessful.
The destruction of the illegal pavement became necessary because the road leading to Mr Arthur’s house had been awarded to a contractor.
According to Municipal Chief Executive of Tema West, Nii Annan-La Felix, he intervened to halt the illegal road pavement after receiving several protestations from motorists and residents in the area.
He accused Mr Arthur of disregarding his intervention and went ahead to construct the road without authorization.
The situation compelled the minister and is team to visit the site to ascertain what was happening since the road is a public road.
On reaching there, the minister was told Mr Arthur had gone to work. He was reached on phone by the minister but he said he was in a meeting.
After waiting for a while, the minister ordered for the destruction of the road.
Briefing the media, the minister said government will not countenance such unruly behavior from individuals.
He said government was not opposed to individuals assisting government with projects but said the right procedures and channels must be followed.
“The ministry would resist such acts with all the authority invested in the state, no matter the money that individual has, the protection of the citizenry is paramount,” he added.
On his part, the Director of Urban Roads, Mr Alhaji Abbas Awolu, said there are clear cut procedures if a private person wants to work on any public road.
“The first procedure is to inform the assembly in which you are,” he said. “When we came here, we noticed that the section that was of blocks were using paving blocks.”
He said using paving blocks on a road must meet certain basic specifications. “The strength of the paving block is clearly spelt out by the specifications on roads.”
According to him, the paving blocks used by the Mr Arthur does not meet the standard, saying they are best used for walk ways.
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