The journey to Elubo ; ECOWAS Highway nears completion but…

Construction works on the multi-million dollar 110-kilomitre Elubo-Apimanim ECOWAS Highway in the Western Region is nearing completion.

The three Chinese construction gangs executing the job aimed at facilitating trade and movement of goods and services in the sub-region were on site busily tackling their bits to complete the road when the Daily Graphic toured the long stretch of the road from Takorad through Apimanim to the Elubo border.

The 24-month contract was awarded on January 9, 2014, financed by the Government of Ghana and donors and is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2015.

The Three Lots

Jiangxi Nonferrous Engineering, the contractor working on Lot 1 which spans 30km according to its engineers, has completed about 75 per cent of the job.

At Lot 2, handled by the Jiangxi Zhonjnei Engineering spans from kilometre 30  to 80, about 80 per cent of the road has been completed while Lot 3, under the China Henan International Corporation and runs from kilometre 80 to 110 at Elubo is 90.3 per cent completed.

At Lot 1 for instance, only less than a kilometre of the road from the main Apimanim junction to Nyamebekyere, Abura, and Anaji Awukyire was yet to be asphalted at the time of the visit.

The same situation prevails at Lot 2 where the road, after Ayisakro towards Ankobra, Esiama, Kamgble, Ekwei Junction, Aiyinase, Samenye Barrier towards Elubo was almost done with first layer on both sides.

Challenges

The three construction gangs indicated some challenges they had had to deal with.

Those unforeseen additions had added to the original project cost of $65 million as well as an extension of the timeline.

They include very heavy but unanticipated additional earthwork and the occasional disputes resulting in stand-offs from aggrieved property owners who are to be compensated. 

These aside, a number of sharp curves that needed to be smoothened and a sprawling rubber plantation which hitherto created a lot of challenges for road users, had to be taken care of.

Unforeseen

The Regional Director of roads, Mr. Ofori Frimpong gave the assurance that the road, a vital one in the region, would be completed.

He told the Daily Graphic that between the initial assessment of the work and the actual commencement of work, the contractors had to carry out extra work that led to an increase in the cost. 

These include the additional heavy earth works and construction of new bridges and that the contractors had justified the need for an increase in the cost while funding for the final lap which is the last asphalt layer, had been secured.

Mr. Ofori Frimpong explained that to meet ECOWAS standards, the axel load had been moved from Ghana’s 10 tonnes per axel to 11.5 tonnes.

 “This is because a lot of trade or movement of goods and services from Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Burkina and Mali through Ghana heading Abidjan was anticipated and there was the need for meeting agreed standards in the sub-region.”

Compensation

One of the biggest challenges the project faces at its final stages was the non-payment of compensation to owners of demolished structures on the right of way.

Stretches of the road pass through farming and fishing communities which required that some structures be demolished to pave the way for construction works.

An amount of ¢12 million had so far been paid as part compensation to the affected businesses and private property owners.

“As we speak, the remaining amount can be determined only by the Land Evaluation Board. What we paid to them was as a result of our initial assessments of the properties on the right of way,” he said.

Angry property owners

Many of the angry property owners from the Lots 1, 2 and 3 on December 30, 2014 signed an undertaking between them and Ghana Highway Authority demanding payment by January 10, 2015, failing which they threatened to block the road.

The regional director said stand-off situations like this were not the best as they delay the timeline for the completion of work, adding, “We at the Highways are doing our best to ensure social harmony for the progress of work.” 

Asked what he was doing to avert the possible ‘aluta’ by the property owners, which could halt work, he said his team was on the ground constantly in touch with the people. A durable solution, he said, was for the evaluation report to be made available to determine the true values for the properties, adding “some were paid but they came back to say it was not enough and they are back to court.

When the Daily Graphic visited some of the communities along the 110km road to Elubo, it was clear many of the affected were living rough. 

They intimated that the best thing was to have ensured that proper evaluation was done, compensations paid to the affected property owners before the demolition.

One of them, Maame Abena, near Abura, said, “Our building was demolished without compensation. Others had their shops demolished as well. Why didn’t they first pay us?”

Speeding concerns

The Daily Graphic’s more than six-hours tour of the road to Elubo saw tell-tales of many serious accidents on stretches of the first-layered asphalted road.

Some road users who spoke to the Daily Graphic expressed joy at the relief the construction and the wide nature of the road would bring to them.

Mr Adolf Sagari Nokoe, a resident of Axim, said hitherto drivers carried machetes in their vehicles especially during raining seasons to chop rubber trees pulled down by storms.

“Now as you can see the rubber plantation is distant from the main road, the road is wider and well-constructed from my view as a normal road user. Our vehicles will not be damaged that frequently,” he said.

“However, my fear is the uncontrolled speed and the indiscipline that might come with the good road. We have communities along the road and we motorists must adhere to traffic regulations to save lives and property” he said.

There were two completely burnt trucks, as well as some cabs and private saloon cars, all attributed to speeding. The road under construction is not marked and has no road signs.

Congestion

When the team finally arrived at Elubo, the busy border town was brimming with activity as articulated trucks from in-country, Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Burkina and Mali heading to Abidjan and Liberia had parked on the shoulders of the road. 

The reason, according to the traders was because even though Elubo was fast becoming a business hub, it lacked spacious parking or waiting areas and bus terminals for transiting vehicles.

The traders themselves had taken over the shoulders of the road for their trading activities, making free flow of traffic in the border town a real bother.