MMDAs ordered to return DRIP machinery to Regional Councils after projects

All Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have been instructed to return road construction equipment under the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) to the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) immediately after completing their projects.

The directive is aimed at ensuring fair access to the machinery and preventing delays in other districts’ development works.

The instruction, according to DRIP National Coordinator Nii Lante Vanderpuye, is meant to guarantee that every district has fair access to the machinery. He gave the directive during a capacity-building workshop in Tamale for coordinators drawn from the Northern and Savannah regions.

Explaining the rationale, Mr. Vanderpuye said the equipment was deliberately stationed at the RCCs so that districts could request and use them as needed. Holding onto the machines after work is done, he noted, creates unnecessary bottlenecks and undermines the programme’s objectives. “When one assembly keeps a grader or wheel loader longer than necessary, another community is denied its fair share of development,” he cautioned.

The former Local Government Minister further warned that such practices could damage both government and donor confidence in the initiative, urging district coordinators to enforce accountability in the management of the equipment.

Northern Regional Minister Ali Adolf John, who also addressed the gathering, voiced frustration about delays in the release of key machines such as low beds and wheel loaders. He cautioned that assemblies failing to return DRIP assets on time would face tough sanctions.

The DRIP initiative, launched in July last year, deployed some 2,240 road construction units—including graders, bulldozers, and tipper trucks—across the country to enhance rural and urban road infrastructure. President John Dramani Mahama appointed Mr. Vanderpuye in February to supervise the programme, which is jointly managed by regional committees involving the Ministry of Roads and Highways and the Ghana Armed Forces engineers.