The Minister and his engineers during the inspection
The Flowerpot flyover project over the Tema Motorway is expected to be fully completed by the end of this year, Resident Engineer, Emmanuel Dogbotse, has assured.
According to him, construction works have reached an acceleration point, with a flurry of activities to hit the 100 percent mark by the next six months.
During a tour of the site yesterday, Mr. Dogbotse informed the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, of the status of the project and noted that work on the retaining walls had begun.
He said, “We will be pouring the concrete for the base in about three days. We hope by the next four weeks we will do the seven pears and then we can concentrate on the box gathers.”
Indicating that the box gathers are the most important aspect of the project, he said, “Hopefully by December, we expect to have constructed the whole gathers from the beginning to the end.”
“The Motorway construction is different from this type of construction. It is a balanced cantilever. We have done the first part of the construction already and we are about to pour the concrete.
“It is left with the second part where we will start constructing the cantilever from both ends of the Motorway.
“We hope, in the next five to six months, we will finish that construction. For the bridge, we expect by the end of this year, it will be constructed. And that is the main project that we are doing,” he stressed.
He acknowledged that the progress was only at 54 percent, but stressed that if engineers could move on with the box gathers without any delays between now and December, they would easily reach the 100 percent target.
“And everybody is giving us the assistance to make sure that there is no obstruction for the construction of the gathers,” he told the Minister and his entourage.
For his part, Mr. Amoako-Atta expressed satisfaction with the work done thus far by the contractor, China Engineering No. 5 Limited, and said both the government and the people of Ghana were passionate about the project.
“I think this is the second time that we have been here within a month. It shows how this project is so important to the Government and the good people of this country.
“This project, when completed, will significantly address traffic congestion in this area (Flowerpot intersection) and improve access between the northern and southern part of the Tema Motorway,” he stated.
He added, “I am very well pleased with the tempo of work and the rate at which this project is progressing.
The minister, however, expressed concern about traffic congestion that has been created by the construction of the project, particularly during peak hours.
The Minister asked the contractors to take proactive measures to guarantee that traffic on the Motorway and at the Flowerpot intersection was adequately handled during peak periods in order to reduce lost productive time in traffic.
He also urged members of the public to be patient in the face of the project’s inconveniences, saying, “No pain, no gain.”
“As construction is going on, we will by all means go through some inconveniences. I am also pleading with the public, just as I am asking the engineers to put up the best traffic management practice in place. I know every soon it will be over,” he asserted.
By Ernest Kofi Adu