JICA and Roads Ministry organize Seminar on using Labour-centered approach for Road surfacing

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in collaboration with Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Ghana Productive Safety Net Project (GPSNP) and Department of Feeder Roads (DFR) conducted a dissemination Seminar on Labour-based Bituminous Surfacing Technology (LBST).

The aim of the Seminar is to expand the knowledge in LBST in Ghana. The seminar took place at the Koforidua Training Centre (KTC) of the Ministry of Roads and Highways (MRH) in Koforidua from 22nd June to 24th June 2021. This follows the successful implementation of a similar dissemination seminar in February 2021 for some selected district assemblies under GPSNP.

In his speech, the Chief Representative of JICA, Mr. Yasumichi Araki said: The Government of Ghana (through the Department of Feeder Roads), and JICA implemented a Technical Cooperation project on LBST from February 2016 to December 2018. Two field trials were conducted during the project to come up with Guidelines for labour-based bituminous surfacing technology, which was launched by MRH in December 2018. The performance of the trial construction has shown that LBST could be applied to undertake road-sealing work for low-volume roads, and also contribute to generating employment opportunities among locals, especially in rural area. Additionally, LBST could create opportunities for small local contractors to provide construction services, as LBST requires less equipment compared to Equipment Based Technology.”

The dissemination seminar centred on introducing Labour-based Bituminous Surfacing Technology (LBST) to engineers of beneficiary districts/regions of GNPSP mainly from Northern, Savannah, North East, and Upper East Regions. In all, about 43 participants attended the seminar including 27 district engineers, 7 regional engineers of DFR, 2 MLGRD staff and 1 KTC staff. Technical Staff (lecturers) of DFR who were the counterparts of the LBST project shared knowledge with participants.

The Project conducted several activities including two field trials (1st field trial was conducted from February 2017 to August 2017, and the 2nd trial was from February 2018 to September 2018) in Koforidua to come up with Guidelines for Labour based Bituminous Surfacing Technology. The performance of the trial construction showed that, the Guidelines could be applied to not only undertake road-sealing work, but also contribute to generating employment opportunities among local people, especially in rural area.

Participants were grateful to JICA and the Government of Ghana for the Technical Cooperation project and for the knowledge-transfer. They pledged to apply the guidelines and train their subordinates to utilize same.