The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has assured chiefs of the Upper East Region that construction of the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom road will be completed in December 2020, stressing that more than half of the project has been completed, and is in use.
Construction of the road began in 2016 but contractors halted construction and subsequently withdrew their equipment from site, citing the nonpayment of arrears owed them by government.
In 2019, contractors began work in earnest again when Government secured an initial funding of 68 million Euros from the ICBC Standard Bank of the United Kingdom in August 2019.
Following the resumption of work on the road, Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta stated that the project would be completed before the end of 2020.
Less than three months to the end of the year, some residents have become skeptical about the completion of the project before the end of the year. But President Akufo-Addo has reassured them of Government’s commitment to completing the road before the end of 2020.
Speaking at a meeting with the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs, Thursday, October 8, 2020, President Akufo-Addo reiterated his government’s determination to complete the road as scheduled, accusing the previous government of failing to fulfill their promise to execute the project.
“…The Bolgatanga-Bawku-Polmakom Road, which has been the subject of many unfulfilled promises, the latest by the NDC presidential candidate, then President, is now being visibly tackled, and will soon be completed…”
” Indeed, ” he continued, “fifty (50) kilometres of the 96.5 kilometre road has been finished in first class condition, and is now in use. The remaining 46.5 kilometre, according to the Minister for Roads and Highways, that instrument of development on our country, is scheduled to be completed by December.”
Construction of the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom road has been a major demand for residents of the region owing to its centrality to the development of the region. It not only links six districts of the region but links the region to neighbouring Burkina Faso.
