The Roads and Highways Minister, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has dismissed criticism of the redesign of the Suame Interchange, insisting the controversy is political rather than based on engineering considerations.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, he explained that the project stalled due to funding challenges and unpaid contractor debts.
“It stalled because, you remember, we started a project and it was supposed to be a commercial loan, then we couldn’t draw down, then we had an opportunity to take a $750 million Afri Exim Bank loan,” he said.
He noted that part of the funds was redirected to support interchange works, but the project eventually halted.
“But it stopped because we owed the contractor in excess of $23 million for work done and not paid for,” he added.
The Minister said the original design aimed to ease congestion at Suame Roundabout, a key traffic point on the Kumasi corridor.
“Now, if you watch the way Kumasi works, the bulk of the traffic going through the central corridor… will now have to drive to Suame roundabout currently, and fight the local traffic to get out of that,” he explained.
He revealed that the initial plan was to construct a multi-tier interchange to manage traffic flow, but broader traffic realities required a rethink.
“So initially the design was to have a three-tier and four-tier… but if you notice what we were doing, we could have, we could actually do the grade separation. But beyond that, they get stuck, because on the Mampong road, there’s no work going on there, so the traffic was still going to build up,” he said.
According to him, a more effective solution is to divert traffic away from Kumasi altogether.
“So the right thing to do, actually, was to do a diversion at around Ejisu, so to bypass Kumasi completely… so that if you were to be going to Tamale, there’s no need for you to come and struggle at Suame interchange,” he stated.
He argued that with such a bypass, the need for a four-tier interchange becomes questionable.
“As a result, you don’t need all four interchanges to do it… We probably don’t need the four-tier. We probably can reduce to three tiers,” he said.
The Minister further disclosed that land acquisition challenges also complicated the project.
“…there was a part of the area which we needed to build, the fourth tier… which was not land that we already own… later, I’m told that the lawyers wrote and said that they want over GH¢100 million as compensation, which was not part of the project,” he said.
Responding to criticism from his predecessor, Francis Asenso-Boakye, and the Ashanti caucus, who argue the redesign could worsen congestion, Mr Agbodza rejected the claims.
“It has nothing to do with engineering. It’s pure politics,” he said.
He added that the new plan will still deliver a technical solution to traffic challenges.
“I can guarantee you what we want to do will be an engineering solution,” he stressed.
The Minister also insisted that no funds are being diverted away from the project.
“No one is taking one cedi out of the project. Whatever savings are made out of not building the fourth tier will be applied to… building the road from the interchange towards Mampong, which is a road in a very terrible situation currently,” he said.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com