President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last Friday cut the sod for the construction of the Dome-Kitase road, which links Greater Accra and the Eastern Region.
Speaking at the sod cutting ceremony President Akufo-Addo urged the contractor to ensure that construction work is completed on schedule and within budget.
He said that road had been promised by various political parties and successive governments over the years.
“I am happy that it is under the Presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that the rehabilitation of the Dome to Kitase Road is finally being undertaken,” the President indicated.
The road project is funded by the Government of Ghana and the Kuwaiti Fund.
The 23km stretch of the road connects Accra to Kumasi road to the Accra-Aburi-Koforidua road and provides an alternate route to road users between Accra and Aburi.
It offers an opportunity for road users to connect the two national roads without the urban traffic normally associated with these two national roads.
President Akufo-Addo said the Dome-Kitase road project and many other road projects across the country were in line with the government’s agenda to provide good and quality road infrastructure to help accelerate the socio-economic development of our country.
The President indicated that some of the road projects completed throughout the country under his presidency include the construction of one hundred kilometres of roads and auxiliary infrastructure under the Kumasi Inner Ring Road and adjacent streets project. Under this project, roads in Nyhiaeso, Bantama, Oforikrom, Manhyia, Subin, Tafo Pankrono, Asokwa, Suame and Kwadaso have been constructed.
Other road projects include the construction of twenty-two kilometres of Cape Coast Inner City Roads under the Sino Hydro Project; the construction of ten kilometres of Prestea and Heman Inner City Roads under the Sino Hydro Project; the completion of the 56.4km Jasikan-Dodo-Pepesu Road on the Eastern Corridor, constructed under the SinoHydro Project; and the thirty-one-kilometre Agona Swedru to Bawjiase Road, which has been substantially completed by M/S China Railway Wuju.
In addition to these, the President stated that work is ongoing on the second one-hundred-kilometre Kumasi Inner City Roads Project, which is being undertaken by M/S Sino Hydro and is currently ten per cent complete. The dualisation of Tema- Aflao Road, including the construction of interchanges at Kpone, Savana, Dawhenya and Prampram, is also ongoing.
The widening of Beach Road, from Independence Square to Tema, is also ongoing. Lot 1 of this project involves the expansion of the Beach Road from Independence Square to Nungua and is thirty-eight per cent complete. Lot 2, which is the widening of the Beach Road between Nungua and Tema, including the construction of a three-tier interchange at Nungua, is 60% complete.
The upgrading of the 15.4-kilometre Ofankor to Nsawam Road into a ten-lane facility, including the erection of interchanges at Amasaman, Pobiman, Medie and Nsawam, has just commenced.
“Asphaltic overlay works throughout the country are also ongoing. One thousand and five kilometres (1,005kms) were completed between 2017 and 2020, and seven hundred and thirty-nine kilometres (739kms) of asphaltic overlay have been completed between 2021 and now. Government’s target of constructing, in this second term, one thousand, five hundred kilometres (1,500kms) of asphalt overlay works is very much on course,” he said.
The President urged the Ministry of Roads and Highways to ensure the necessary traffic management measures are put in place to reduce inconveniences to the public during the construction period, adding: “upon completion, the road project would improve the capacity of the urban section with the one-way system, dualization and junction.”
Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, said adequate provisions had been made to compensate all persons who may be affected or displaced by the road project.
The Executive Chairman of M/S First Sky Group, Eric Seddy Kutortse assured that the inconvenience associated with the construction of the road would be minimised.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah, ISD