Mallam junction traffic: Bear with employees who report to work late – Engineer pleads

The engineer working on the portions of the Mallam Junction road has appealed to employers and heads of departments to pardon their staff who live around and beyond that area, due to the unbearable vehicular traffic jam.

The engineer said they are working hard to ensure the project is completed before the stipulated time but some challenges that are facing them have resulted in the heavy vehicular traffic on the road all day.

Portions of the Mallam Junction road were closed from April 30, 2018, for major drainage work on the 500-metre double cell culvert to reduce the perennial flooding on that stretch.

Annually, the Mallam Junction section of the N1 Highway is rendered completely impassable when it rains with residents blaming it on a Total Filling station which they claimed had blocked the waterway. The GHS6 million World Bank funded project, being implemented by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, was expected to be completed in 50 days.

Consequently, the three main roads stretching from Lapaz through Awoshie and Mallam and main McCarthy Hill junction section of the main Kasoa road have been diverted.

It is thus affecting residents and workers who commute from Central Region, specifically, Kasoa to Accra and vice versa.

Residents complained bitterly on Monday morning as they had to waste precious time in traffic. As at 12midday, some workers who claimed to have set off from their various houses around 7am complained that, they were still in traffic.

They therefore fear of being queried or dismissed by their bosses and employers should they get to the office around that time.

The Sanitary Engineer at the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project, Gabriel Engmann, in an interview with Prime News Ghana said, there are several factors that have contributed into the delays on the road.

“The rains also contributed but what I want to assure the road users is that, we are working. We are done with the stage one and two and we are on the third stage which is the final one and that one, we have done about 50%”, Mr. Engmann explained.

“Breaking down of vehicles has also contributed to the delays because there were times that we had to contact the road safety and they have really helped us. The periodic rains have also contributed”, he added.

He assured that “by weekend, we shall finish the last stage so that traffic can come back to its normal stage but the main challenge is for us to fast-track the project”.

Mr. Engmann noted that “we should have been done by 20th June which is the 50-days but we can finish before that 50-days so we urge employers to pardon their staff when they get to work late”.