The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) would soon fund the construction of bridges on the Kulung and Hambaralla rivers in the South Sissala Area of the Wa East District in the Upper East Region.
The two rivers which flow across the Wa-Bulenga -Wonturi road, the shortest route to get to Northern Region from the Upper East, normally burst at their seams during the rainy season, rendering the road impassable.
Mr. Kwaku Addo Okyere, Upper West Regional Director of Ghana Highways Authority (GHA), announced this at a meeting organised by the Upper Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) in Wa on Wednesday.
District and Municipal Chief Executives, Presiding Members of District Assemblies, heads of government departments and security agencies attended the day's forum to brief the RCC on their operations and activities for year 2010.
Mr. Okyere said the GHA in the region administers a total trunk road network of 973 kilometres and out of this, 122 kilometres, representing 12.5 percent are paved (bituminous surfaced) and the remaining 851 kilometres
also representing 87.5 per cent are unpaved (gravel-surfaced).
He said currently, 116 kilometres of the paved roads representing 95 per cent are in good condition while the remaining six kilometres,
representing five percent are in fair condition.
Six kilometres representing 0.7 per cent of the unpaved roads are in good condition, 247 kilometres, representing 29 per cent are in fair
condition and 598 kilometres representing 70.3 are in poor conditions.
Mr. Okyere said the 2008 Road Condition Survey gave 13 per cent of roads in the region as good, 30 per cent as fair and 57 per cent as poor.
Major factors causing road deterioration in the region include outlived design life of the roads and delayed maintenance due to inadequate funding, he said.
He said some communities are always cut off during the major rainy season and this brings about the urgent need to package emergency repairs works apart from the programmed routine and periodic maintenance works.
He said it was also necessary to upgrade some of the roads such as the Wa-Han-Tumu road to bituminous surfacing and replace all the weak and broken cross drainage structures and called for more donor assistance.
The rivers had been a headache of the Wa East District Assembly, as they have divided the district into two, compelling communities on the other side to trek long distances through Wa Municipal and Nadowli District to attend meetings at Funsi, the district capital.