President Akufo-Addo in his state of the nation address has revealed that the stalled construction of the Takoradi interchange will be completed under the Government of Ghana (GoG) projects.
According to the President, the government is committed to concluding the external debt restructuring process as soon as possible, which will enable the government to complete substantially projects that have been constrained due to financial challenges.
The President in his address said,” In the meantime, some of the 12 priority projects have been transferred onto the GOG budget within the same fiscal space to ensure their completion.
“This will enable the Kumasi International Airport, which is some ninety- eight (98%) complete, to be completed by May. Other projects like the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) Maternity Block in Kumasi, the Takoradi Interchange, the Obetsebi-Lamptey Interchange in Accra, the University of Environment and Sustainable Development Project at Bunso in the Eastern Region, phase two of the construction of roads in Tamale, and the construction of the eighty-four-kilometre (84km) railway line between Tema and Akosombo, would also be completed.”
The construction of the interchange began in August 2021. With a stipulated schedule of 30 months, expectation was to ensure completion by July 2023.
Work on the project continued steadily, until an abrupt halt in January 2023.This was attributed to conditions that came with Ghana’s IMF deal.
As the project is being financed through the SinohyMaster Project Support agreement between Ghana and the Chinese government undertaken by Sinohydro Corporation, one of the major conditions from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Ghana for a bailout was to put all barter projects on hold thus affecting the PTC interchange construction.
The ramifications since the halt have been enormous as commuters and business persons around the construction site have to grapple with dust on a daily basis.
This makes commuting around the central business district very tedious. Vehicular traffic builds up even during non-rush hours, motorists have to endure the deteriorated road thus impacting them adversely with frequent breakdowns coupled with low returns.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Kobina Amuah