President John Mahama has reiterated his government’s determination to improve road infrastructure in the country to enhance productivity within the economy.

He noted that one of the number one priority areas of the Government in the roads sector was to finish the construction of the Eastern Corridor Road.

He said, was because it was a main artery that carries a lot of traffic on the nation’s eastern border, and it brings a lot of food products down from the northeastern part of the country through Volta Region to marketing centres.

President Mahama said this during a courtesy call on him at the Flagstaff House in Accra by a delegation of pastors from the Volta Region led by Rev Seth K. Mawutor, Chairman, the Volta Regional branch of the Christian Council of Ghana, and Chairman, the Ecumenical Council of Churches, Volta Region.

The delegation was at the seat of Government to congratulate the President on his decisive victory in the December 7 general.

The President said: “Volta Region is a very important Region to Ghana in terms of food production, agriculture, tourism and so many other things and I think that we can take advantage of that and improve its potential to be able to create opportunities for our citizens who live there”.

“And so our main focus in respect of Volta Region to be to improve the infrastructure in terms of the road network, in terms of education, in terms of health care, in terms of access to clean drinking water, in terms of extension of electricity so that people can use it to generate small and medium enterprises to be able to earn incomes for themselves.”

He noted that it was not the Volta Region alone that was facing challenges in the roads sector; saying “Roads, it is not the Volta Region alone, the whole country and I had the opportunity during the campaign to go to every single constituency in this country and in every traditional area that I went (to), no chief was satisfied with the road network”.

“Not only are the roads bad but the roads that were in fairly good condition have not been maintained and so they have deteriorated”.

The President said during the vetting of Mr Kwame Governs Agbodza, the Minister of Roads and Highways at the Appointments Committee of Parliament, he (Mr Agbodza) was asked about the roads, and he said the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government had been unfair to the country in terms of maintenance of roads.

“And so I kept asking where the supposed 12,000 kilometres of roads were because I didn’t find them anywhere in all the places that I went but certainly roads are going to engage our attention because I think that it’s one of the most important things on the hearts of all Ghanaians in terms of how we travel,” President Mahama stated.

“And I’ve seen very fairly good roads that were okay while we’re in office that have deteriorated so badly because even routine maintenance and filling of potholes has not been done so the potholes have grown bigger and then it becomes quite a difficulty when you have to travel over those roads.”

The President said the Government would work on the Ho to Denu Road because that was also an important commercial road that links to the nation’s eastern neighbour Togo, and that it would be a priority.

He said the road from Juapong to Ho was also going to be a priority and that there were other link roads that even though hadn’t been mentioned would be worked on.

On his part, Rev Seth K. Mawutor, Chairman, the Volta Regional branch of the Christian Council of Ghana, and Chairman, Ecumenical Council of Churches, Volta Region, on behalf of the delegation congratulated President Mahama on his decisive victory that God had given him in the December 7 general election.

He appealed to the President to ensure the operationalisation of the Ho Airport to facilitate the movement of people, goods and services.

Rev Matthias Mededues-Badohu, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Ho, appealed to the President to ensure that roads in the Volta Region were fixed.