The Deputy Minister of Transport Alhaji Hassan S. Tampuli, has responded to critics who described the newly open Tamale interchange as a flyover.
According to the Gushegu legislator, “whether interchange or flyover we have accepted it because this is the first of its kind in this part of the country. We thank President Nana Akufo Addo for the project”, he stated.
The Member of Parliament for Gushegu Constituency made these comments after using the stretch for the first time on Sunday March 3, 2022.
Several personalities including Civil Engineer Abdulai Mahama and some members of the opposition National dŋemocratic Congress (NDC) had clarified that, the edifice recently inaugurated by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo in Tamale is a flyover and not an interchange.
According to the engineer and NDC members, for the road infrastructure in Tamale to be an interchange, it must offer the opportunity for road users to switch roads.
“Tamale interchange does not offer the opportunity to switch roads. Bridges that we only drive on are called flyover”, Engineer explained.
Meanwhile, members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) including Deputy Majority Chief whip Habib Iddrisu, still maintained that, the project is an interchange and not a flyover or an overpass.
The interchange had about 1.1Km of bridge and ramps, drainage works, streetlights, and 10Km of asphaltic overlay around it.
In 2019, President Akufo Addo cut sod for the commencement of the multi-dollar Tamale Interchange project funded under the $2 billion China-Synohydro deal.
The project is aimed at enhancing inter-urban and national traffic flow, reducing the cost of risk of doing business, thereby enhancing trade within the Tamale Metropolis.
Story By: Alhassan Yakubu |www.diamondfmonline.com |Ghana
