The Chairman of the Transport and Roads Committee of Parliament, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, yesterday disclosed that the government had signed eight different contracts with Ghanaian construction companies for the construction of four bypasses on the Accra-Kumasi highway.
The contracts, according to the Member of Parliament for Akim Swedru, forms part of President Akufo-Addo government’s commitment to dualising major highways in the country.
Speaking to journalists in Parliament, Mr Osei Nyarko said the first bypass, to be sited at Osino, which will be about 11.6km, will be constructed by First Car Limited and Josh More Construction Limited. The second bypass, which will be 6.1km long, to be sited at Anyinam, will be constructed by Nack Fermamount and Hardwick Limited.
The third, which will be located at Enyiresi, a 10.5km bypass, will be constructed by Resource Access Limited and Memphis Metropolitan Construction Limited.
The last bypass, which will be 13.5km long, will be constructed at Konongo, and the work will be executed by Kofi Job Company and Joshurp Construction Limited.
The MP disclosed that the projects would cost GHC2 billion, adding that construction works are expected to commence earnestly in the first week of April, this year.
Major intervention
He added that these projects, when completed, would ease the traffic congestion on the Accra-Kumasi highway, minimise the fatalities on that stretch as well as reduce drastically the traveling hours on that route.
“The government has taken this decision as a result of the numerous accidents on our roads, especially the Accra-Kumasi road, and the traffic congestion on that route, and has also decided to use these four bypasses to dualise that road for easy access for commuters on the road,” he said.
He said the project is a major intervention by the government, adding: “The government made the promise and the government is delivering that promise”.
“President Akufo-Addo is doing it like President John Agyekum Kufuor did at Nkawkaw bypass to make easy access, so that there wouldn’t be much more traffic.
“Currently, you know where the traffic builds up on the Accra-Kumasi road and the engineers have looked at it carefully, and they have decided that we need to have these four by-passes,” he said.
He added: “President Kufuor started the dualisation from Nsawam, all the way to Suhum. We completed the first part of it – the first lane; the second lane… they started to a certain point; they couldn’t finish it. Eight years later, the NDC abandoned that stretch; they couldn’t do it.”
He said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo decided to continue the other lane to Apadwa Junction during his first term, adding that Ghanaians are all witnesses to the work that had gone on.
