Cost of Kasoa Interchange: Akufo-Addo questions figures
The 2016 Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) , Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has expressed concern about the amount quoted in the 2015 budget statement for the construction of the Kasoa Interchange.
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The cost, he conjectured, appeared bloated when compared to the cost of building the six-lane N1 Highway, with two interchanges, and the paying of compensation for those whose properties had to be demolished due to the construction of the road.
Speaking at the Second Aliu Mahama Memorial Foundation lecture at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Accra on Tuesday, Nana Akufo-Addo said that although he accepted that the government was not building an ordinary interchange, “As I have said, many have expressed deep anxieties about the cost and it is definitely one of the things leading to the perception of corruption in government.”
Suggestion to President Mahama
He suggested to President John Dramani Mahama to “check the figures! Check them again! Invite others in an international open tender and let’s see if we can’t save the nation more than half of what you have signed us up to pay.”
Rebuttal
But the Road and Highways Minister, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, in a rebuttal, explained that the Kasoa project would be a three-interchange project and not “one as Nana Akufo-Addo wants people to believe.”
He explained that the project would be a comprehensive and coordinated solution to the traffic situation on the Accra-Abidjan International Transit Corridor, which had been experiencing traffic congestion at Kasoa.
Alhaji Fuseini said it was important that anybody criticising a project understood the activities involved in the projects and values placed in those activities, adding, “It would totally be misconceived to talk of the Kasoa project as a single project or single activity project.”
He also said the project would involve building a bridge over a water body in the Ewutu-Senya Electoral Area to connect two communities which had been cut off from the entire community, as well as the construction of a bypass from Kasoa to Amasaman.
Complements
Alhaji Fuseini also indicated that the project would be complemented with social infrastructure such as a polyclinic at Kasoa, schools, lorry parks, markets and the Rapid Bus Terminal.
Processes
He added that it was important to state that the Kasoa project was sent to Cabinet and referred to Parliament and the Select Committee on Roads and Transport, and also passed by Parliament, which comprises both the ruling and opposition party members.
“Nana Akufo-Addo was misinformed and ill-advised,” he said, adding that his views depended on his own understanding of what was involved in the project.
Writer’s Email: severious.dery@graphic.com.gh