The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, yesterday inaugurated a rehabilitated and upgraded 22-kilometre Cape Coast Inner-City Road project undertaken to improve the road network in the Cape Coast metropolis.
The project, which was part of the Phase I Agreement between the Government of Ghana and the Sinohydro Corporation, focused on addressing the poor nature of roads in the area as some of them became impassable during the rainy season.
Interventions taken as part of the project included construction of drains and culverts, rehabilitation works involving dressed surface, as well as traffic management and safety works.
Communities directly benefitting from the road project were Akotokyir, Kwaprow, Amamoma, Academy area, English Arabic area, PPAG area, Ebubonko-Amssano-Besakrom-Dankwakrom, Eyifua and Kakumdo.
Dr Bawumia, in an address during the inauguration, stated that the completion of the project had proved critics of the current administration wrong as they doubted its execution when it was announced.
He indicated that the construction of the Cape Coast inner city road was part of a master project between the Government of Ghana and the People’s Republic of China through the Sinohydro Corporation.
The Vice President said under the phase I of the Sinohydro master project support, 441 kilometres of roads and two inter-changes areto be constructed, and its objective is to enhance intra-urban, regional and national traffic flow, strengthen regional and traffic integration and improve trade.
“The completion of the project has improved accessibility within beneficiary communities in Cape Coast,” he said.
Dr Bawumia further stated that apart from the construction of the Cape Coast inner city roads, other contracts such as the Tamale interchange, and upgrading of selected feeder roads in Ashanti and Western regions had also been completed and inaugurated.
“Currently, there are three lots under the Sinohydro project that are at various stages of completion.
The Kumasi Inner city road, construction of Takoradi-PTC interchange and construction of the Sunyani inner city road, he said, were at various stages of completion.
The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, in an address, indicated that the Central Region had a total road network of 5,695.5km as at the end of 2020, explaining that “there are 1,880 kilometres of paved roads, 2,320.6 kilometres of gravel roads, and 1,494.8 kilometres of earth roads”.
He explained that the regional road condition was mixed because getting to the end of 2020, 24percentwas good, 37 percent fair, and 39 percent poor.
The Ministry of Roads and Highways, he said, had developed a strategy to increase the percentage of roads in good condition by undertaking various periodic maintenance activities.
The strategies, he said, included asphalt overlays, resealing, minor rehabilitation and upgrading, partial reconstruction and gravelling, and re-gravelling.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Lu Kun, in his address, said the rehabilitation of selected roads and interchanges in Ghana-Phase I agreement between the Government of Ghana and the Sinohydro Corporation had set a good example of mutual friendship between Ghana and China.
He expressed optimism that the projects under the agreement would serve well the development agenda of Ghana in the near future.
The Paramount Chief of the Oguaa Traditional Area, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, in his remarks, expressed appreciation to the government for executing the project.
He also appealed to the government to work towards improving the rest of theroad network in the Cape Coast metropolis andthose in other areas within the region.
FROM DAVID O. YARBOI-TETTEH, CAPE COAST
