Enforce axle load limitation on vehicles - Kufuor

Ejisu (Ash), Feb. 20, GNA- President John Agyekum Kufuor has directed the Ministry of Roads and Transport and the law enforcement agencies to ensure that axle load limitations on vehicles within the ECOWAS agreement is rigidly enforced to preserve the country's road infrastructure.

The ministry should in addition put in place a credible maintenance regime to make sure that the country reaps full benefits of the investment made in the road sector.

President Kufuor was cutting the sod for work to officially commence on a 46.5-kilometre Kumasi-Konongo road project, which forms part of the Accra-Kumasi road corridor at Ejisu on Friday.

The project is being funded with a grant of 394 billion cedis from the Government of Denmark.

The project would to be completed within 36 months and would be carried out by Aarsleff Ghana JV with COWI AS and Messrs Conterra Limited as the Project Engineers.

President Kufuor noted that the road was very important to the economy as it connects the country's capital, Accra to Kumasi, which is at the centre of economic activities of the nation.

It would also serve as the main artery to the Northern regions and the landlocked neighbours of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. He stated that in the spirit of the protocols of the ECOWAS and the desire to promote sub-regional economic integration and co-operation, Ghana would continue to open its corridors to transit trade.

The President said his government was aware that without the development of sound and efficient road infrastructure, no meaningful progress could be made in the drive towards poverty reduction and the improvement of the living conditions of the people.

"This project is therefore being embarked upon to accelerate socio-economic development and to make travelling and transporting of goods and services easier", he added.

Dr Richard Anane, Minister of Roads and Transport, said the Kumasi-Konongo section of the Accra-Kumasi highway had been identified as the most dangerous in the country.

A road safety audit conducted during the detailed design phase and an analysis of the accident records for the last two years, indicated a high accident frequency.

"From 1995 to 2000, a total of 596 accidents occurred resulting in 147 deaths and 870 injuries.

Further work in 2002, confirmed a frequency of 2.5 accidents per kilometre per year and 30 fatalities and about 170 serious injuries each year," Dr Anane said.

Dr Anane said those factors had been duly recognised and appropriate measures incorporated in the design to address the road safety concerns of the road.

The Minister said the road works, which would commence from Konongo, would terminate at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi.

The scope of works would include complete reconstruction of the existing pavement along the entire 46.5 kilometre stretch, provision of 7.3 kilometres of dual carriageway on the Kumasi-Fumesua section and in the Ejisu township, reconstruction of other sections of the Konongo-Kumasi road to a 7.3 metres carriageway and 2.0 metre paved shoulders on either side.

There would also be an improvement of the horizontal alignment at three accident prone locations stretching from Odumase to Nobewam, a new 15 metre-long bridge parallel to the existing KNUST interchange bridge as required by the provision of the dual carriageway section. There will be road signs and guardrails, thermoplastic and road marking with acoustic edge lines, speed calming measure, ghost islands and traffic islands, as well as traffic signal lights at two intersections.

Mr Flemming Bjork Pedersen, Danish Ambassador to Ghana, urged the government to adopt preventive maintenance measures to preserve the substantial investment in the country's road network.

He cautioned that one major factor that could reduce the projected service life of the road was overloading, saying, overloading of trucks is considered to be "enemy number one" when it comes to road pavements.