Work on Tema Motorway Interchange is 91 per cent complete — Project Manager
Construction work on the three-tier Tema Motorway roundabout Interchange is progressing steadily and will be completed on schedule barring any last minute hitch, Mr Yujin Uemura, the Project Manager, Shimizu-Dai Nippon JV has assured.
With barely four months to the deadline on June 6, 2020, Mr Uemura said about 91 per cent of work was complete, with minor construction works such as drains and asphalting of inner roads about to start.
He gave the assurance when Mr Kwesi Amoako Atta, the Minister of Roads and Highways paid a working visit to the site on Wednesday as part of his tour to some major road projects in the Greater Accra and Eastern regions.
The visit was to give the minister a firsthand information about the progress of work at the various road projects being undertaken by the government.
Mr Uemura said “as at the end of January, the overall progress is about 91 per cent and then our schedule is about 90 per cent complete so we are almost on track, and our completion date is this year 6th of June, so under four months to go, we will make sure to complete by that date without any hitch.
“The main work is the remaining of the road works and we are going to start the remaining of the asphalt works soon.”
The interchange is a $57 million project being financed under a grant from the Japanese government through its agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The interchange when completed will facilitate easy connection from Accra to Aflao and onwards to Togo, as well as the Akosombo road.
It forms part of the West African Corridor Development Growth and Ring Master Plan and is implemented by Messrs Shimizu-Dai Nippon Joint Venture (SDJV), a Japanese construction firm.
Mr Uemura explained that the project stalled at some levels due to their inability to access some lands allocated for the project but were occupied by squatters and therefore appealed to the Roads Minister to ensure that those issues were addressed to facilitate the completion of the project.
Briefing the media at the end of the inspection, Mr Amoako Atta expressed satisfaction at the level of work done and urged the Project Manager to ensure that works on the remaining project were expedited.
He also urged the manager to put in place measures to curtail any flooding that might occur in the future.
“When you look at some of our interchanges, for instance the Kwame Nkrumah interchange, they experience flooding whenever it rains and so extra works were done to prevent the occurrences, therefore whatever it is, we must avoid the same thing happening here when the project is finally handed over to government,” he said.
Mr Amoako Atta said the government of Japan gave its approval for the commencement of the second phase of the project, and the contractor would move to site three months after the completion and handing over of the interchange project.
Other road projects inspected by the minister included the Teshie-Link road, the four-tier Pokuase Interchange, rehabilitation of the Ofankor-Nsawam section of the N6 and the 31.7km Kwafokrom-Apedwa in the Eastern Region.
GNA
