Kufuor�s Mallam-Tetteh Quarshie Road Completed

The 14-kilometre Mallam-Tetteh Quarshie road, one of the major projects initiated and started by the previous Kufuor-led New Patriotic Party administration, with all the required funds available before the take over by President Mills, is now ready for commissioning. The 14-kilometre road that stretches from the Tetteh Quarshie Roundabout through Lapaz, Kwashieman to Mallam is expected to be commissioned soon by President Mills on the 15th of February 2011. The Mallam-Tetteh Quarshie road is part of projects being funded by the $547 million Millennium Challenge Account secured by President Kufuor and the NPP government in 2008 as a result of good governance from 2001 to 2008. The projects under the Millennium Challenge Account are aimed at improving various sectors of Ghana�s economy, including transportation and agriculture. It is recalled that on February 22, 2008, President Kufuor, after cutting the sod, christened the Mallam-Tetteh Quarshie road �The George Bush Motorway�, at a state banquet in honour of former US President Bush and his wife Laura Bush. President Kufuor, at the time, said the gesture was in appreciation of the contributions of the US President to the development of Ghana and other parts of Africa. The �George Bush Motorway�, which is currently one of the busiest in the city, has been reconstructed into a first class six-lane dual carriage road. The cost of the project was US$101 million back in 2008. However, just like other contracts awarded during President Mills-led National Democratic Congress, the cost of the project has shot up to a cost of $165 million. The project is expected to ease traffic and enhance bulk haulage of agricultural produce to the two main ports of Ghana: Tema and Takoradi. The compact required the two contractors, China Railway (Wuju) Group, working from the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange to Apenkwa to Mallam Junction, to complete the works by the end of January this year and hand them over to the government this month. Failure on the part of the construction companies to do so would put the country at the risk of losing the funds for the project to the US government, which is funding the project. According to the Infrastructure Project Manager in charge of Transportation and Agriculture, John Bernard Koranteng Yorke, the China Railway (Wuju) Group had executed about 98 per cent of its project. There are five loops forming the interchange at the Mallam Junction and, according to Mr Yorke, those loops are currently at various stages of completion. Loop One is from Awoshie towards Kaneshie, Loop Two from Kasoa to Awoshie, Loop three from Awoshie to Kasoa, Loop Four from Kaneshies to Awoshie and Loop Five leads to the Gbawe community. Construction of the retaining walls for Loop Three is almost complete, in addition to pavement works on Loop Five. So far, the four foot bridges at Nii Boi Town, the Kata Hotel, Abrantie Spot and Kwashieman have been completed, except for the guard rails that are yet to be fixed. Work from the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange to Apenkwa, Mr Yorke stated, is nearly complete.