The President of the Ghana Institution of Engineering (GhIE), Ludwig Annang Hesse, says Ghana’s neglect of routine road maintenance is contributing to deteriorating road conditions and increased traffic congestion.

His comments follow a pothole-related disruption that led to about four hours of heavy traffic on the Ofankor–Achimota Highway on June 1, 2026.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, he criticised the approach to road infrastructure delivery, particularly the awarding of contracts without secured financing, arguing that it has placed significant strain on national resources.

“This has been so for about 25 years, when some people thought that instead of spending money on routine maintenance, we should rather use it to start new roads. We have completely lost the culture of maintaining our roads. A pothole, by the rules of road maintenance, should not stay on the road for more than a day,” he said.

He also highlighted what he described as a mismatch between outstanding road contracts and available budgetary allocations, warning that the situation is financially unsustainable.

“We all heard when the new government came in in 2025 that as at the end of 2024, we had road contracts ongoing amounting to more than GHS120 billion. Meanwhile, the budget for the Ministry of Roads and Highways in 2026 is just a little above GHS80 billion. So how on earth do you think such a load can be kept up? When you stretch yourself so thin, the quality suffers,” he said.