The Accra-Tema motorway will be re-engineered into a 10-lane highway, Roads and Highways Minister Kwasi Amoako-Attah has announced.
The Atiwa West MP told parliament on Friday, 17 June 2022 that plans are underway to totally transform and overhaul the 19-kilometre road.
The motorway was fully reopened to traffic on Friday after a temporary closure to allow for reinforcement works on some bridges along the stretch.
It created a lot of inconvenience to commenters, who had to endure unbearable traffic jams on some diversions.
Mr Amoako-Atta told parliament that as part of plans to reduce traffic jams on the highway, “the future programme is to expand the existing motorway to a 10-lane” stretch.
“It will comprise of free-way, access control, three urban highways and a number of footbridges for pedestrian crossing.”
In August 2021, there were claims by the Minority in parliament that the expansion project had no parliamentary approval.
Debunking that claim which was made by Mr Governs Kwame Agbodza, who called for the immediate abrogation of the contract awarded to Mota-Engil Engenharia E Construcao Africa S.A. and also alleged that Mota-Engil is not qualified to undertake the project on design and build basis, the ministry, in a statement, stated “without the slightest equivocation that the assertions and conclusions” made by the MP were “inaccurate and misleading”.
“We wish to state that the minister and ministry have not, in any way, breached the requirement for parliamentary approval for the Accra-Tema Motorway Extension Project and, therefore, the full content of the Hon. Member’s press conference should be totally disregarded and ignored by the good people of Ghana”.
The ministry explained that it signed a commercial contract with Mota-Engil in December 2020.
“This commercial contract, as a standalone, cannot be sent to parliament without the complement of a financial agreement. As of now, the financing arrangements are yet to be concluded. It is, therefore, premature for anybody to claim or suggest that we have breached the law, when the documents to be submitted to parliament have not been finalised”, the ministry explained at the time.
“The signing of a commercial contract for internationally funded projects with conditions precedent before its submission to parliament is not unusual.
“On the La Beach Road Completion project, the commercial contract was signed in September 2012 with similar conditions precedent. The cabinet and parliamentary approvals were secured in November and December 2018 respectively and the Contract became effective in 2019.
“Again, on the Accra Intelligent Traffic Management Systems Project, the commercial contract was also signed in September 2012 with similar conditions precedent. The cabinet and parliamentary approvals were secured in November and December 2018 respectively and the contract became effective in 2019.
“The Ministry of Roads and Highways is an active promoter of local content. Indeed, for the Accra Tema Motorway Extension Project, 40% of all works have been reserved for local contractors. However, we state for the avoidance of doubt that when the competitive bidding process was launched in December 2018, 23 companies expressed interest. None was Ghanaian. It is therefore not accurate to give the impression that Ghanaian companies were excluded.
“It is simplistic and ignorant for anybody to do a simple calculation of cost over kilometres and conclude that the cost of the Accra Tema Motorway Extension Project is over bloated without recourse to the actual scope and works involved in the Project.
The scope of work of the project is as follows: 10-lane 19.5km motorway (4 lanes of reinforced concrete freeway, 6 lanes of Urban Highway), Reconstruction of Tetteh Quarshie to Apenkwa (5.7 km), Remodeling of Tetteh Quarshie, Apenkwa and Achimota Interchanges, Construction of 5 new Interchanges (Lashibi, Abattoir, Teshie Link, Fiesta Royale and Neoplan junction), 14No. Pedestrian Footbridges, Toll Plazas and Streetlights”.