How does Ghana’s proposed control of utility works change the timing, permission and record-keeping expected around publicly funded road projects?
Minister threatens action over completed roads
Ghana’s Minister of Roads and Highways, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has threatened legal action against Ghana Water Limited, the Electricity Company of Ghana and telecommunications companies that excavate completed roads to install service lines. Speaking to the media on September 29, he said service providers would no longer be allowed to wait until a road project was finished before laying water pipes, electricity cables, fibre-optic lines or other infrastructure. He said any utility company digging a completed road without the necessary authorisation would be held accountable under the law. The report records a ministerial warning, not a legal case or finding against any named company. No action has been shown to have been taken.
The proposed mechanism is advance coordination
The ministry’s stated approach is to bring utility works into the period when road construction is still under way. That gives service providers an opportunity to install infrastructure alongside the road project instead of reopening a newly built surface. The minister said providers planning work within road corridors or near the road right-of-way should notify the ministry and obtain permission before starting. They should also provide the location and nature of the infrastructure they plan to install, together with records of work already completed. In procurement terms, this is a coordination and authorisation process: planned interfaces are identified before construction is finished, reducing the risk that one publicly funded work damages another.
Records matter to both public and private investment
Agbodza said accurate records of utility infrastructure would help the government protect public roads and investments made by service providers. He also raised concerns that telecommunications companies allegedly enter road corridors without informing the authorities and damage infrastructure installed by the government. Those claims remain allegations in the source and have not been proven. The practical implication is that utilities may be expected to disclose where their assets are, what they intend to install and when the work will take place. For road authorities and suppliers, the arrangement creates a shared reference for sequencing works, granting access and identifying responsibility when infrastructure is placed near a road or when later excavation is proposed.
A condition for avoiding repeat excavation
The minister said the directive would apply regardless of the type of infrastructure involved, naming Ghana Water, the electricity company and telecommunications providers. His position is that the current road construction programme provides sufficient opportunity for service providers to complete necessary works before roads are finished, and that roads should not be immediately opened again to accommodate utilities. The announcement does not set out a new statutory process, a timetable for permissions or penalties for non-compliance. It does, however, signal that permission from the Roads and Highways Ministry and early coordination will be treated as central safeguards where utility works affect a road corridor or right-of-way.
IN NUMBERS
The policy puts timing, permission and asset records at the centre of works near public roads. Utility providers have been told to coordinate during construction, while the ministry has signalled that unauthorised excavation of completed roads may lead to legal action. The source does not report a completed prosecution or establish wrongdoing by any named company.
Reported from myjoyonline.com, 2026-09-29. The Tender Wire is published by Otnox.
