Kwasi Amoako-Attah
The Roads and Highways Minister-designate, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, has revealed that the Akufo-Addo Government’s aggressive road development programme for the second term will focus on dualisation of all major roads and the construction of interchanges across the country.
According to him, the government is making every effort to open up the country in terms of road infrastructure and “build on the dualisation of our roads to halt the carnage on our roads.”
Taking his turn at the public vetting of the Appointments Committee of Parliament yesterday, Mr. Amoako-Attah said “in the second term of President Akufo-Addo we are going to concentrate on two key areas – dualisation of all major roads in Ghana and construction of interchanges.”
“Already the Accra-Kumasi project is on course and anybody who travels on that stretch will see that China Water is working seriously on that road and it will continue even beyond, and then Accra-Takoradi will also continue,” he told members of the committee yesterday.
According to him, the second area of concentration will be the construction of interchanges, indicating that “currently six interchanges are ongoing simultaneously in the country and this has been unprecedented in the history of this country.”
He disclosed that “from the end of the first quarter this year, we are preparing to start three major interchanges in Kumasi – Suame interchange, Ahodwo interchange and Oforikrom interchange.”
“We have gone far in these projects in terms of procurement processes and very soon that will also happen,” he noted, while emphasising that “we are making great effort to improve the infrastructure of roads in these areas.”
On the Kwabenya roundabout – Berekuso road, Mr. Amoako-Attah said the Roads and Highways Ministry had gone very far.
“That road is being taken care of and is going to be dualised. We are using the Kuwait fund for it.
“I believe that all things being equal, by the end of the first quarter that project should take off,” he said, stressing that Tema motorway roundabout to Aflao road would also be dualised.
“The President even cut sod for work to start on that road last year around October and the contractors, DHM Contractors of Great Britain, were on site,” he disclosed.
The Roads ahd Highways Minister-designate said the first 17 kilometres of the Tema motorway roundabout to Aflao road would go beyond the Central University corridor and that it would be a dual-carriage three lanes, which would eventually become six lanes on that stretch, pointing out that the reason was that the road would form part of the Abidjan-Lagos highway and the construction must be up to that specification.
“Within the 17-kilometre stretch because the area has a lot of settlement and is urbanised, we are going to have almost five interchanges on that stretch. We are also dualising the Tema motorway roundabout to Akosombo. The contractor is on site.”
President Akufo-Addo, in his inaugural speech after his swearing-in, promised to prioritize road construction in his second term by ensuring that a significant number of the country’s roads were tarred.
By Ernest Kofi Adu