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CONTRACTORS WORKING on the 31.7-kilometre Kwaa-fokrom-Apedwa-Nkwanta stretch of the Accra-Kumasi highway, China Waterway and Electricals, have suspended construction of the road due to lack of funds from the government. Over one hundred and fifty road workers that were assisting the project have been laid off after eight months of no work. Aside the cost of reconstruction of the freeway escalating when the government re-awards the contract again, some residents have relapsed onto the road not to sell goods, but use the uncompleted sections for a block molding site and drying of bricks after using the sand on the road in that venture. The implication here is that, since the government has placed a freeze on awarding of contracts, the important economic road would have to hang in a limbo for quite a while. But, re-awarding of the construction of the road is likely to escalate the initial cost expected to be expended on the road. When the Daily Heritage visited the site, it came out that work had halted with no equipment in sight. A contractor with theChina Waterway and Electricals,who pleaded strict condition of anonymity, intimated that work had been suspended because the consultant of the project is owed some substantial amount by government. He lamented �the consultant indeed has no funds to continue the project.� He said �at the moment, the government owes us quite substantial sum of money, so we are hoping that anytime there is money available, the government will release funds for us to resume work on the project.� When the paper visited the campsite of the contractor, all the equipment was on standby. Only three local and two expatriate workers of the construction company were on site but, at least 150 road workers have been asked to hold on until funds are released for the continuation of the project. The 31.7-kilometre Kwaa-fokrom-Apedwa stretch of the Accra-Kumasi highway which was awarded in November 2006 should have been completed in November 2009, but has since suffered delays owing to lack of funds. The promise the Ghana Highway Authority gave to the late President John Atta Mills on his last tour of the Kwaa-fokrom-Apedwa junction stretch of the Accra-Kumasi highway on July 12, 2012 was to complete the Kumasi bound lane and open it to the public. It is 2014, two years down the line, the promise appears to have turned into one of the much rhetoric by state officials as contractors have once again transferred their equipment from the project site after suspension of the project. This comes on the heels of millions of compensation packages paid to persons whose property were affected by the road construction.