"The last time I came, he [contractor] assured us that by July next year [2026], he [contractor] will be able to hand over the road.
"But if I look at the progress being made, I'm sure that by April next year [2026], if you guys push hard, you'll be able to finish this road and hand it over, so that we can use it. This alignment of the road is the road that links Accra to Kumasi, " President John Dramani Mahama has said.
President Mahama said this on Wednesday when he inspected the progress of construction works on the Ofankor-Nsawam section of the N6 highway that links Accra to the Eastern, Ashanti, and other parts of northern Ghana.
President Mahama said exactly 90 days ago, he was at the project site for inspection, because of the outcry from the traveling public about the nature of that particular stretch of road, of Ofankor-Nsawam.
He said when he visited the site, he met a road that was moving at a snail's pace, and there were many constraints associated with what was happening.
One was the inability to make some demolitions in order to allow the contractor to work.
But a major one was non-payments for work done for a very long time, the President noted.
And so, of course, I ordered the road minister and the finance minister to make sure that payment was made to the contractor.
And so more than $70 million was made to the contractor. And I promised that I would come back after three months to come and see the progress of work that has been done, President Mahama said.
And today is exactly three months since I last came here. And I'm quite impressed with the progress that has been made. I'll urge the contractor to continue to push hard, President Mahama added.
He said some people had expressed concern that with the announcement of the new Accra-Kumasi Expressway, "this road is going to be abandoned. This road is not going to be abandoned."
Work is still ongoing. Even if you go into the eastern region stretch, towards Apagya, all the way towards Anyinam, there is work going on there. And we are going to add the Ashanti region end of it, so that we open up the road.
President Mahama indicated that the road will still be a very important road, but it will also exist alongside the Accra-Kumasi Expressway, so that for those who want to go very fast, for the big trucks that carry heavy cargo, instead of using this stretch, they can use that stretch. Of course, they'll pay a toll to be able to use it.
And so, like he said, we've not abandoned this alignment. This alignment will still be available for road users. But we are going to invest in a new expressway that will take people to Kumasi faster than this old one has done.
So let me congratulate the consultants, and then also congratulate the contractors. And I hope that you continue to push it the way you've done. I'm sure that if you do, we probably will take over the road earlier than you had said in July, President Mahama said.
