Construction of Aflao - Tema road to start

More than 270 buildings including the Ghana News Agency (GNA) office at Aflao have been marked for demolition to pave way for the reconstruction of the Tema-Aflao road.

Other buildings to be affected include those of the district Police Headquarters, Ghana Telecom, Mamiya Photo Laboratory, Sanaa Hotel, Prince Hotel, Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), Ghana Post, the Circuit Court and its offices and the depot of the West African Cement Limited (WACEM).

About 1,000 buildings would be affected from the Tema Motorway Roundabout to Aflao, a Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) Spokesman in Accra confirmed to the GNA in a telephone interview.

The demolition would also affect buildings along the highway in Agbozume, Afife, Akatsi, Sogakope, Ada Junction, Sege and Dawhenya.

Evaluation and compensation payments on affected structures would be finalised in December to be followed by demolition and construction work in March, next year.

The source said the project design, which was drawn in 1994, would be reviewed.

He said the property markings being undertaken are meant to view the expected property impact on the project and stressed, "it is premature to say anything on the exact number of property to be affected. The number might increase or decrease".

The GHA would evaluate the buildings to determine their actual owners before the payment of compensation and the demolition exercise.

He said funds have been secured for part of the road project between Tema Motorway and Sogakope while negotiations for money for the stretch from Sogakope to Akatsi had reached an advanced stage and that for the part from Akatsi to Aflao was also underway.

The source denied that the Tema - Lome road was to be diverted from Akatsi to Dzodze, saying, that though a road would be constructed from Akatsi to Dzodze, it was not meant to divert the Tema-Lome road.