Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport inspects road projects
A civil engineer in charge of the Kwafokrom-Apedwa section of the Kumasi dual highway , Mr Joseph Omani-Mensah, has stated that work on the highway will be completed by April next year.
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The engineer made this known when members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport toured the project site last Monday. He maintained, however, that the project completion date was dependent on prompt release of funds by the government.
So far, he said, the government had released funds for the payment of compensation to all property owners whose properties were affected by the construction of the highway.
Members of the select committee undertook the tour to ascertain the extent of work that had been done and also acquaint themselves with challenges the contractor was facing.
Project description
The 31.7 kilometre dual carriageway starts from Kwafokrom and ends at Apedwa. From there, the road changes into a single carriageway.
At the Suhum Junction, a 400-metre long flyover has been built to facilitate vehicular movement in a free-flow manner.
When the road is completed, it will become part of the international trunk road linking Accra and Kumasi, the two biggest cities in the country, to other countries, especiialy those to the north of the country.
It will particularly form an integral part of the network of roads in the country linking Accra to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and Accra to Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire.
The project is being executed by the China International Water and Electric Corporation.
Compensation
According to Mr Omani-Mensah, payment of compensation to property owners was resumed on May 12, 2015, and about 280 out of the estimated 297 property owners affected by the road project had been paid.
He said the contractor had indicated that besides the road, he would consider putting up some social amenities in the communities along the road in conformity with his social responsibility towards the people.
Circle Interchange
Earlier, the committee had visited the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra, to assess ongoing works on the construction of an interchange at the spot. The Chief Resident Engineer of the project, Mr Kweku Diafo, in a briefing, told the Members of Parliament (MPs) that work on the first phase of the project was 99.8 per cent complete and would be handed over to the government in about a month’s time.
He said a police station and a fire station would be put up as part of the project.
The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport, Mr Mike Yeboah-Ampong, said he was impressed with the extent of work on the two projects. He said he was hopeful that the government would meet its obligations to the contractors.
He said further that the committee would ensure that all parties would discharge their duties as contained in the contract document.
