The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, has refuted recent claims in the media that the Suame Interchange project has been delayed.
According to the Minister, this particular project is different from the conventional road projects which usually come with their designs.
He said the contractor for the Suame Interchange project is responsible for its design and construction.
To this end, he said the project is at the design stage and is therefore within schedule.
The Minister said this on Tuesday when he paid a working visit to the construction site of Rango Constructions, the contractors in charge of the project.
According to Mr Osei-Mensah, the sod cutting by the President in October 2022 commenced the design part of the project which is currently ongoing.
The actual construction, of the project, he said, would commence immediately the contractor is done with the design aspect.
He further disclosed that the design of the project has however been modified, adding that the height of the overhead, which was hitherto five metres has been increased to 5.5 metres.
This, he said, is intended to prevent heavily loaded trucks with extended heights from destroying the overhead.
“Some parts of the road design which was supposed to be double lane have now been modified to three lanes,” he added.
Explaining further, the Ashanti Regional Director for Urban Roads, Ing. Francis Gambrah, said, “the Suame Interchange project is a design and build project,” which means the same contractor is responsible for its design and construction.
Ing. Gambrah also stated that aside the design works, which is expected to be completed in August this year, a number of preparatory works are also ongoing, citing construction of the camp site as an example, which he said is 85% complete.
Bala Ali & Bruce Mills, ISD
