Construction of Teshie Link road to resume

Construction work on the 7.5-kilometre Teshie Link road will resume on Monday, June 18, 2018.

The road, which connects Spintex to the Accra -Tema beach road, has been abandoned about two years ago.

The contractor, Malin Investment, abandoned the work following the government’s delay in paying money owed it.

Speaking to journalists after a familiarisation tour on the road Tuesday, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwasi Amoako Attah, said the issue that resulted in the contractor abandoning the work had been resolved.

He said the contractor had been given the green light to resume work “within the next six days.”

Background

The government in July 5, 2015 awarded the contract for the construction of the dual-carriage Teshie Lascala link road to Malin Investment at a cost of GH¢61 million.

The contractor was given 24-months to complete work but after 60 per cent of the work completed, the project was abandoned.

That is because the government was unable to fulfill its promise of releasing funds to pay the contractor.

Following the development, residents along the stretch lamented the dusty nature of the road, saying they risked contracting lung-related ailments.

Issues addressed

Mr Amoako-Attah said when the new government came to office, it realised that there were some outstanding debts to be paid to the contractor to pave the way for the completion of the project.

He mentioned that the contractor had completed work amounting to  GH¢35 million out of which GH¢16 million had been paid.

“We want the project to be continued because it is one of the crucial roads the government has identified. We will make sure that any issue that would obstruct the contractor from working is addressed,” he said.

The minister warned developers who had encroached the right of way to vacate else their structures would be pulled down.

Contractor

For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of Malin Investment, Mr Francis Kpelu, said he had no option but to abandon the project because all efforts to get the government to release funds yielded no fruit.

“I had already done about 60 per cent of work but my effort to get the government to pay achieved no result, so I stopped work,” he said.

Mr Kpelu said he was now ready to return to site because the minister had assured him that the issue would be addressed.