That the dualisation of the country’s major highways as one of the projects penciled for the second term of President Akufo-Addo, is heartwarming and exciting.
A President who walks his talk must not be doubted when he makes a promise to change the status of our roads from dangerous to safe.
Kwesi Amoako-Atta, the Minister-designate for Roads and Highways, was of course singing from the same hymn book as his boss the President when he reiterated the project during his turn at the Appointments Committee vetting last Tuesday.
President Akufo-Addo had earlier told his compatriots that his second term in office will witness the second phase of his road infrastructural programme for the country.
Hinging the second phase of his road projects on both dualisation of highways and the construction of interchanges are worth clapping for.
Although the President’s second term has barely taken off, his ministers still in the process of vetting, we can relish the thought that when the dualisation project is complete, road carnage, an unfortunate feature of our roads, would become an entry in our history.
Most of the vehicular accidents on our highways have been occasioned by head-on collisions leading to increasing fatalities. It is therefore a fact that with the dualisation of the major highways such as Accra to Kumasi, the casualty statistics would be reduced to the barest minimum.
In one of our many commentaries on a way out of the country’s near incessant highway bloodbaths, we did suggest the dualisation option as a way out. The experts did not demur having themselves suggested the option.
Fatigued drivers veering off their lanes and colliding with vehicles approaching from the opposite direction has characterised a lot of the accidents on our highways.
With Tema Port maintaining its port of preference by landlocked Francophone neighbours, the dualisation project is long overdue.
It is inconceivable that so many years after independence, the dualisation of our highways especially those linking food and cash crops growing areas to the consumption locations in the south and for export, these roads are still mono carriageways.
When the dualisation project is completed, many lives will be spared the carnage the current order is exacting on the country.
We have noticed the difference between the mono and dual carriageways on the Accra to Kumasi highway portions of which are dualised. A section of the Nkawkaw and Suhum to Nsawam stretch have been dualised and the relief and sense of safety motorists and passengers feel when their vehicles arrive at these portions is amazing. Although they are not long, somewhat experimental, it says a lot about when the long stretch Accra to Kumasi is completely dualised.
The signs of a good performance are visible even in their early stages.