Contractor sets new date for Ofankor-Nsawam road

Work on the Ofankor-Nsawam Dual Carriage Road project, which has already missed the initial July 20, 2024, completion date, will miss the revised completion date of May 21, 2025.

The completion of the project will be delayed by 15 more months because of unresolved compensation issues for persons affected by the project and the relocation of service lines of utility agencies such as the Electricity Company of Ghana and Ghana Water Limited.

Per the current progress report, the project is 74 per cent complete, and thus, cannot be delivered on the revised completion date of May 21, this year.

The Chief Resident Engineer of the project, Kwabena Bempong, explained that out of 328 structures that were on the project’s right of way, 76 of the owners of those facilities qualified for compensation out of which 40 of them received some compensation.

He said the contractor’s quest to speed up work on the project hit a snag after some of the affected persons took the case to court for redress.

Again, he said since November last year, the contractor had not been able to do any meaningful work because of financial challenges related to compensation payment.

Select Committee

This came to light when the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport paid a working visit to the project site last Friday.

The committee was led by its Chairman and Member of Parliament (MP) for Wassa East, Isaac Adjei Mensah, and the Ranking Member, Kennedy Osei Nyarko.

The committee also visited the Obetsebi Lamptey Interchange and the Winneba-Kasoa Road Expansion projects to ascertain the progress of work and the challenges that needed to be addressed.

Obetsebi Interchange

At the Obetsebi Interchange project, it came to light that outstanding works on the €87-million facility were progressing at a snail’s pace because of funding challenges resulting from interim payment certificates (IPCs) that have not been fully honoured by the government.

Although the work on the second phase of the project had exceeded the 96 per cent completion point, the Resident Engineer of Fas Consult, Owusu Sekyere Antwi, said delays in honouring the outstanding IPC of about €20 million had made it difficult for the contractors – QG Construction Limited, to complete the work at the end of the first quarter of this year as envisaged.

Mr Antwi said part of the IPCs were paid last year but a chunk of it was yet to be honoured.

In January this year, Mr Antwi had told the Daily Graphic that final ancillary works were ongoing on portions of the facility to enable the contractors to hand over the €87-million project by the end of March, this year.

He had also indicated that the outstanding works included the laying of pavement blocks on the walkways, doing the wearing course (second course of asphalt), road lines and markings, road furniture (road signs, directional signs) and the installation of traffic lights.

Kasoa-Winneba Road Project

When the committee got to the Kasoa-Winneba project, construction work was progressing steadily.

The Resident Engineer of ABP Consult said the combined physical work for Lot A of the project, which comprised the construction of interchanges at Sapato, Buduburam, Bereku, Akoti, and two footbridges, was 47 per cent complete.

He said, all things being equal, it was expected that the project would be handed over by the end of March 2027.

General satisfaction

Touching on the Obetsebi Interchange project, Mr Mensah said there was a need to expedite action on the financial regularisation to ensure that work was completed on time.

The Wassa MP urged the contractor to link up with the Ministry of Works and Housing and the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) project to complete the drainage infrastructure within the project area.

On the Kasoa-Winneba road project, he said it was refreshing that despite the initial setbacks, the project was progressing steadily.

Mr Mensah also said since the government did not owe the contractors, they must work around the clock to finish the project.

Touching on the issue of compensation payments, he stressed that there was a need for all stakeholders to join hands and resolve all the thorny issues to allow for the smooth execution of the Ofankor-Nsawan and other road projects.

Swift action

The Ranking Member on the committee, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, said the work done by the contractors was generally satisfactory and needed to be sustained and completed.

However, he expressed concern about the protracted shifts in the completion dates of the Ofankor-Nsawam dualisation project.

“This is a 33.4-kilometre road project that was supposed to be completed within 24 months, but it has elapsed for almost a year now and we are made to understand that as long as it keeps delaying, it is costing the government and the taxpayer more money.

“If we are not able to resolve the outstanding issues for the contractor to be able to complete the project, we will end up paying almost double the initial project cost,” he said.

He emphasised the need to swiftly deal with the issues of encroachment and compensation for the project to rebound.