Complete Projects At Agreed Time - Roads Minister

Mr. Kwasi Amoako-Attah, Minister of Roads and Highways, has asked contractors to complete projects on time to avoid wasting resources and producing substandard works.

The Minister said this on Wednesday at the inauguration of the reconstructed Tema Motorway roundabout as part of the Corporate Social responsibility of Maritime and Port Services (MPS) to help ease off traffic congestion in the area.

“It is significant and I would want to lay emphasis on that. This project has been executed and completed in a record time. This is the standard that I want all contractors working in our country to adopt and follow because delay in project works, its implementation and construction brings in their wake a lot of difficulties,” he said.

He observed that the Ghana Highway Authority and the Department of Urban Roads regarded the Tema Motorway roundabout as one of the critical bottlenecks in the network of roads, and they had been considering various interventions “to minimize the unbridled delays that motorists face navigating the motorway roundabout.”

He informed that the bottlenecks affected both local and international travelers using the N1 Highway and commuters in and around Tema, Ashaiman, Prampram and beyond.

He said, “The Tema Motorway roundabout as a 5-leg intersection comprising the Accra-Tema motorway, the Hospital road, the Harbour road, the Aflao road, and the Akosombo road all contributing traffic to and converging at the roundabout.”

He said traffic contributed by each of the five legs to the roundabout resulted in the creation of very slow movement through the circle with speeds as low as 5km/h during peak hours.

He observed that this problem was made worse with the increase in the number of vessels arriving at the Tema Port, and that the new port expansion was expected to generate additional haulage truck volume from the Port through the roundabout which would significantly increase traffic at the roundabout.

He said, “The Ministry’s ultimate goal is to provide a multi-level grade separated interchange to ensure free flow of traffic to and from the five approaches with an improved level of service.” and informed of plans to upgrade the Accra-Tema Motorway into a 3-Lane dual carriageway.

Mr. Amoako-Attah praised the MPS for their efforts in starting and completing the project saying” after eight months of hard work, MPS has concluded the improvement works and as we can all see, traffic is flowing more freely around the roundabout and we are happy for it.”

He asked other institutions to emulate MPS’s gesture and assist the government in its delivery of social services to the citizenry.