The deployment of road construction machinery under the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) is coming under renewed scrutiny following the stalling of road works in parts of the Bekwai Constituency over a lack of fuel.
The issue has emerged on the Dotom-Koniyaw-Kokotro road, where a DRIP machine deployed by the Assembly reportedly stopped operating after exhausting its fuel supply.
The development prompted Bekwai MP Hon. Ralph Poku-Adusei to release GHS 30,000 to support the purchase of fuel and facilitate the continuation of reshaping works.
The money is being distributed among Dotom, Koniyaw and Kokotro, with each community receiving GHS 10,000 towards the immediate fuel requirement.
But beyond the immediate intervention, the situation has triggered a wider discussion about how DRIP machinery is financed and maintained at the local level.
Hon. Poku-Adusei argued that the availability of road equipment alone is insufficient if Assemblies lack the resources required to keep the machines operational.
He recalled that DRIP was introduced under the previous administration to equip Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies with machinery to address poor road networks, alongside arrangements intended to support the operation of the equipment.
According to the MP, the current situation has left Assemblies increasingly dependent on their Internally Generated Funds and community contributions to provide fuel for DRIP operations.
He said this creates difficulties for rural communities whose financial capacity is already limited.
The Dotom-Koniyaw-Kokotro situation, he argued, illustrates the challenge: machinery is available, but road works can still grind to a halt when there is no money to fuel it.
The MP said the irony was particularly striking because he had personally spent GHS 160,000 in 2024 to undertake road works on the same stretch before DRIP machines became available.
His latest GHS 30,000 intervention, therefore, represents another emergency response to a road that continues to require attention two years after the initial intervention.
Hon. Poku-Adusei maintained that repeated emergency interventions cannot replace a sustainable financing arrangement for rural road maintenance and construction.
He further disclosed that discussions are ongoing to get contractor B. Beniako back to site to complete the road project, which was reportedly awarded in 2019.
The MP stressed that reshaping could only provide temporary relief and that the ultimate objective should be the construction and tarring of the road.
The funding challenge also has broader implications for rural communities, where road conditions directly affect the movement of agricultural produce, access to healthcare, education and commercial activity.
For Dotom, Koniyaw and Kokotro, the immediate priority is to get the DRIP machine working again.
But the episode has also brought into focus a larger question: how can rural road programmes remain operational when the machinery is available but the resources needed to run it are not?
The answer, for stakeholders in the affected communities, may determine whether DRIP becomes a sustainable rural-road solution or remains dependent on periodic emergency interventions.
