Work progresses on Ashaiman-Adjei Kojo road

Work on the main Ashaiman-Adjei Kojo underpass is progressing steadily with one side of the dual carriage lane being put in shape to be open to traffic.

Contractors working on the 4.2 kilometre four-lane road have begun laying kerbs to differentiate the dual carriage and the walkway.

A bicycle lane has also been incorporated into the new design, considering the fact that a huge number of young people use bicycles and motorcycles in the municipality.

The laying of kerbs thus follows a successful completion of the sub-based filling that had raised the road up from the ground to about 10 inches from the surface level.

According to the Greater Accra Regional Director of Urban Roads, Mr Ben Adomah, one side of the road will be completed in the coming months and opened for use, while work on the other portion progresses.

The decision to speed up work on one side and open it to traffic is to ensure proper traffic management.

"Excavation works have been completed and we have the asphaltic materials readily available to begin paving as soon as the traffic demarcations are put in place," Mr Adomah told the Daily Graphic team during a visit to the site.

Asked whether the application of the asphaltic overlay would begin soon considering the fact that the rainy season was here, Mr Adomah said that while they had anticipated the heavy rains, they were preparing the surface to make it passable, while preparatory works would be speeded up for the asphaltic overlay.

He stressed that whereas the completion of the project had been pegged at October 2016, the percentage of work done so far was an indication that they would be done ahead of time.

Klagon-Sakumono

The 6.2-kilometer Adjei-Kojo Underpass-Klagon stretch, which is the most damaged portion of the road, was also being worked on when the Daily Graphic visited the site last Tuesday.

The stretch, a waterlogged route, could cut access to Ashaiman and adjourning communities when the rains become heavy.

The project, which was initially being handled by China Railway Construction, has been abandoned by the contractor following government's indebtedness.

According to sources, the government's indebtedness was so huge that officials of the company had as well abandoned the maintenance of the unpaved stretch to make it passable for commuters.

"Once a project is given to a contractor, they are supposed to maintain it to a passable state. However, government's inability to honour the payment certificates for the Chinese contractors might have informed their decision to renege on the contract terms," the source added.

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Ibrahim Baidoo, told the Daily Graphic that the exit of the previous contractor coupled with the deteriorating condition of the road had necessitated the need for a new contractor to be brought in to do some physical maintenance.

That, he intimated, led to Engineers and Planners (E&P) being selected, since they had the capacity to mobilise resources and tools to put the road in shape.

A Maintenance Engineer at the Ashaiman Municipal Roads office, Mr David Kissieh, also told the Graphic team that the introduction of E&P was a stopgap measure to put the road in a passable condition as a respite for commuters.

According to him, ahead of the rainy season, there was the need to ensure that some maintenance works  were done within the waterlogged sections of the road.

He expressed the hope that the interventions being made would provide some relief for commuters during the rainy season.

Impassable condition

The impassable condition of the road saw violent protests by members of the Private Transport Operators’ Coordinating Council (PTOCC) in 2013.

The progress of work at present would, however, come as a relief to residents who have threatened to organise another demonstration against the government for not redeeming its 2012 promise to ensure roads within the municipality were restored to good condition.

Writer's email: delarussel@gmail.com