Contractor asked to completed work ahead of time
The Minister of Roads and Highway, Francis Asenso-Boakye, has asked the contractor working on the phase two of the Tema Motorway Roundabout to complete the project by October this year as against the scheduled completion date of December.
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He has suggested to the contractor to either increase the human resource or work day and night to make sure the work was completed before schedule.
He admitted some tax components were hampering the progress of the project and as a result, he had engaged the Japanese ambassador whose government was funding the project and all those issues had been resolved.
The minister said this last Thursday when he inspected the project to ascertain the level of completion.
The project
The $27 million project, which was inaugurated on July 15, 2022, consists of the construction of the recommended third-tier flyover in the South-North direction of the Tema Harbour - Akosombo Road.
It stretches from the Total Fuel Station at Tema Community 9 towards the Ashaiman Timber Market on the Tema - Akosombo Road.
The project is being funded with a Japanese grant and is expected to provide an anchor for the continuous expansion of the 64 - 64-kilometre Tema-Akosombo stretch.
Iconic project
“If there’s anything that the government can fast track, we won’t hesitate to do that. You just have to add more human resource.
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I understand one of the major issues that was hampering the progress of work was tax and I’m happy to inform you that it has been resolved and this is one of the steps that we have taken to make sure you compete ahead of schedule,” Mr Asenso-Boakye said.
He said the project was iconic and had a huge benefit to the country such as providing transport connection from the Tema harbour to Accra.
Before the project, he said there was a huge vehicular traffic on that stretch and that was affecting economic activities.
“Since I assumed office, I have been pushing hard for the contractors to complete ahead of schedule because it will have enormous benefit for the country and road users,” he said.
Assurance
The Project Manager, Satoshi Yamamoto, after explaining the details of the project to the minister, assured him that they were going to speed up the process to ensure the work was completed before schedule.
He also gave the assurance that they would do that without compromising the architectural integrity of the project.
Mr Yamamoto said the progress of works as of the end of this month was 60. 87 per cent with a delay of 0.04 per cent.
Upon completion, the Level of Service (LOS) within the intersection was expected to be at LOS C.
He said that would make it easier for the Tema Harbour to clear goods quickly, end traffic jams and improve trade integration and economic growth in the ECOWAS sub-region.