The Roads Minister has solicited the collaboration of the 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces towards the construction of 5,000 steel bridges to facilitate economic activities nationwide.

Kwasi Amoako-Attah said the Ministry would soon enter into an agreement with the Defence Ministry to enable members of the Regiment to support the rehabilitation of about 150 steel bridge components that had been knocked down.

He announced last Friday that government was expecting about 200 components of steel bridges from the Czech Republic this year to fix the dilapidated bridges.

Mr Amoako-Attah made this known at a staff durbar held at the Burma Camp, in Accra, during a visit by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to interact and listen to the concerns of both military and civilian employees of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).

The Minister said GAF had collaborated well with the Ministry in the past and the military personnel displayed a high level of professionalism, efficiency, discipline and technical prowess in the construction of steel bridges.

He said due to this the Ministry would, therefore, like to rekindle that relationship and partnership towards the country’s infrastructural development.

Mr Amoako-Attah said the Government had begun pavements of some roads in the barracks and announced that by the first quarter of this year, it would commence asphalting some artillery and residential roads of all military barracks nationwide.

Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, while responding to some questions regarding employees’ welfare, assured of government’s determination to improve their conditions of service.

He said it had been a torrid period since assuming the reins of government in 2017; nonetheless, government increased the allowances of Ghanaian troops in the United Nations peacekeeping mission.

He said government increased the allowance from $30 to $35 per day and paid all outstanding arrears of the troops that went to The Gambia, and, thus, assuring of government’s commitment to improve their welfare and operational equipment.

Collapse bridge at Amasaman in Accra

Mr Ofori-Atta said the nation could only achieve its vision of moving “Ghana Beyond Aid” only when both the Military and civilian employees remained committed and disciplined towards the implementation of government policies and provision of infrastructural development.

Asked whether government would provide any bailout to investors who lost their investments in Menzgold, Mr Ofori-Attah re-affirmed government’s earlier stand that, it would not stand-in for anyone who lost his or her monies in the gold dealership firm.

He said government had already expended GHc11 billion in the banking recapitalisation, which had put a lot of financial constraints on the national treasury.

Mr Ofori-Attah, therefore, advised both the military and civilian population to exercise a lot of circumspection whenever any investment firm promised extraordinary profit margin within a short time.

Mr Ambrose Dery, the Minister of the Interior, reacting to concerns of occasional clashes between the Gonjas and Nawules in the Northern Region, he said, his outfit was gathering intelligence report from the security agencies and the Peace Council to guide the way forward.

Earlier, President Nana Akufo-Addo out-doored some buses, operational vehicles and equipment for the Ghana Armed Forces to improve its efficiency towards safeguarding the territorial integrity of the nation.