NPP led by Akufo-Addo are liars – Kwakye Ofosu

Deputy Minister for Information and Media Relations, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has described the entire New Patriotic Party and its flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as liars throwing dust into the eyes of the citizenry.

He described as untrue recent claims by the NPP that the Kasoa Interchange project and the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange projects has been “inflated”.

Read below unedited piece by Felix Kwakye on his Facebook wall

In the last few weeks, the NPP led by Nana Akufo Addo, have been on a lying spree. Their latest lie relates to the cost and scope of a number of major road projects.

Among other claims, Mr Akufo Addo and the NPP’s hirelings and allied groups have claimed that the cost of the Kasoa Interchange project and the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange projects has been “inflated”.

Of course, Mr Akufo Addo and his lying horde neglected to provide any evidence except to lamely claim that the cost of these projects should have been the same or lower than that of the N1 project.

In their misguided view, the N1 project is bigger in scope and yet cost much lower than the Kasoa Interchange and the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange. Well, below are the facts.

A. Construction of Kasoa Interchange and other related Works –Scope of Works

1 .Construction of three interchanges on the main Accra- Cape Coast Road at the following locations:

I.Main Kasoa Traffic Lights

II.Galilee/Iron City to link Iron City into Amanfrom without doing U Turns on the main road

III.Universal/CP junction to link Universal to the Opeikuma Area in Kasoa

2. Widening of main Accra Cape Coast road between Iron City and Universal/ CP junction, a distance of six km to three lane dual carriageways, with slip roads and ramps.

3. Construction of Amasaman-Ashalaja-Oboom Road a distance of 33km into asphaltic concrete road with a bridge across the river Densu, to replace the current bailey bridge. The construction of the Amasaman Road will provide an alternate road to NSAWAM and eastern parts of Accra. The same route will provide a convenient alternative for commuters to Kasoa from the eastern parts of Accra, Nsawam and beyond.

4. Construction of 20km of roads within Kasoa and Ga South. This is necessary to provide critical access for communities within Amanfrom, Amanfrom Top, Galilea, Iron City, Tuba, Kasoa and Nyanyanor. These access roads will improve accessibility for the communities without coming onto the main Kasoa road.

5. Construction of critical drainage systems in Kasoa and Ga South

6. Construction of a two storey new Polyclinic for Kasoa to replace the small one located close to the Kasoa Traffic Lights. This polyclinic will have an OPD, Doctor’s consulting rooms, pharmacy, an intensive care unit, etc.

7. Construction of four Schools each with 36 classrooms to help eliminate the shift system in schools within the Kasoa and Ga South Communities.

8. Provision of 10 mechanized boreholes for selected communities that have challenges with GWCL distribution system.

9. Construction of BRT Transport Terminal in Kasoa.

Cost: US$ 160 Million

B CONSTRUCTION OF KWAME NKRUMAH INTERCHANGE

The project is targeted at addressing the perennial congestion at the Nkrumah Circle. This is attributable to the capacity of the Circle being exceeded since 1999. The plethora of transport terminals around the Circle have a contributory impact on the congestion.

The Odaw bridge close to the circle is old and easily overtops during heavy downpours. The railway crossing also has a contributory effect to the congestion at Circle.

The solution looked at various options and settled on the option with the following broad parameters.

a.Grade separate the intersections that connect into the Nkrumah Circle. There are five roads that connect into the Circle; this include ; Akasanoma and Nsawam Roads, Nkrumah Avenue, Ring Road Central and Ring Road West.

b.The Akasanoma/Nsawam Road and Nsawam/Nkrumah Avenue Roads first level grade separated interchange. Main through traffic is being grade separated to allow pedestrian traffic to use the ground level, where pelican traffic lights shall be provided to improve pedestrian safety.

c.The Ring Roads will be constructed as third tier interchanges. This will reduce the impact of the railway line on traffic flow on the Ring Road, because the road will be above the railway.

d.Construction of three bridges across the Odaw River. The height of the bridges are such that they can allow small boats to use the Odaw River in future and reduce the incidence of flooding anytime there is a heavy downpour.

Two of the bridges shall replace the existing two bridges that are old and structurally not sound. The third bridge shall link the Odawna bridge to the Neoplan Station and allow the trotros direct access to Avenor,etc.

Construction is in two stages

1.Construction of the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange and

2.Construction of Ring Road Flyover and ancillary works.

Construction of Kwame Nkrumah Interchange

i.Length of bridges and ramps -440m. The bridge type is a steel-composite bridge. This allows for ease of construction and longer spans of about 40m can be used, instead of concrete structures which has to be 20m. The disruption to traffic flow at circle will have been worse than was experienced at the mallam intersection during the construction of the N1

ii.No of piles sunk -560 no. Each pile was sunk about 14m in depth.

iii.Width of bridges- 12m

iv.Construction of Road between Ring Road Central to the Ring Road West for about 3km into a 3 lane dual carriageway.

v.Widening of the Feo Oyo Road, between the Ghanaian Times junction to TV Africa into a 2 lane dual carriageway.

vi.Section of the Ring Road shall be recycled for the construction purposes, instead of excavation throwing away the material and bringing new material for the construction.

vii.Other roads to be rehabilitated include the Kente Street, Akasanoma Road and Farrar Avenue.

Cost of the this project is 74.8 million Euros

C. CONSTRUCTION OF RING ROAD FLYOVER FROM FAANOFAA OVERPASS- FEO OYO WITH ANCILLIARY WORKS

i. Length of bridges and ramps- 1200m of bridges constructed. The width of the bridges is 24m. This is to make provision for future Bus Rapid Transit Lanes in future. The BRT is expected to be constructed on the Ring Road and the Kaneshie- Mallam Road.

ii. Construction of 3 bridges across the Odaw River.

iii. No of piles sunk- 2000no

iv. Construction of terminals- The Odawna and Neoplan Stations shall be rehabilitated as has been done at Achimota.

iv. Space under the bridges on the roads, ie the Akasanoma, Nsawam and Ring Road bridges is being designed as valuable urban space. As part of the project, a police post, ambulance station and fire service post shall be provided. However the AMA is to collaborate with other private sector players to manage the rest of the space below the bridges.

Cost of the Ring Road Flyover is US$170 million

NOW THE N1 HIGHWAY

Length of road 14km

Two Lots.

Lot1: Construction of Tetteh Quarshie to Appenkwa Interchange. Length 5.3km

Cost of Project- US$23 million

Cost after completion was US$59.4million

Lot 2: Construction of Road between Appenkwa to Mallam Junction: Length 8.3km

Initial Project Cost: US$83.7million

Cost after completion: US$ 127.5 million.

Total cost after completion was 187million.

This is exclusive of the cost of relocation which was 57.6million Ghana Cedis an equivalent of US$ 42.4 million.

The total cost of the construction of the N1 is US$ 219MILLION.

However the following was not done:

Provision of adequate signage on the road, side roads are yet to be developed, this include Lapaz, Nyamekye , Kwashieman, Santa Maria, etc.

Additional works will have to be done by GOG to include the safety issues, the interchanges, etc.

Now make your own judgment.