Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu is calling on the Ministry of Roads and Highway, Department of Urban roads, and the Supervisory Consult, to undertake a structural audit of the performance on the contractor working on the Tamale interchange project.
According to him, such action is necessary because when taken, will go a long way to guarantee and ensure value for money “for this $46 million project. $46 million is a lot of money in Ghana cedis”, he said.
The Minority leader who is also the Member of Parliament for Tamale South, made this call after inspecting ongoing work at the project site on Saturday, March 5, 2022 following a widespread complaint by some residents of the Tamale Metropolis.
The Assemblyman for the Victory Cinema electoral area in an interview with Diamond FM also complain that the contractor was doing a shoddy work.
Honorable Haruna Iddrisu in an interaction with the media, said the project if not completed timely and structurally to the request of the engineers as approved by Parliament, “we may suffer the same congestion and traffic within the metropolis”.
“The essence of this project was to reduce pedestrian and vehicular traffic and to allow free flow of persons and goods and services. But, we are afraid it will rather worsen the situation if this allows to continue.
The Minority leader while expressing worry over the ongoing work at the project site stated, “we are particularly concern about the slow pace of the work, the quality of the work, and structural problem associated with the work, despite $46 million approved for the project.
Mr. Iddrisu further expressed worry over the houses closer to the interchange that could not be demolished by the contractor before the start of the project saying “I just can’t understand why the houses here up to the story building could not be demolished, for purpose of expanding of the road. I can’t accept it structurally. Who ever was responsible; either the Department of Urban Roads or the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, the people here were ready and they were told in advance that the road will affect the position of their houses. All houses through to the story building, adequate compensation should have been paid to them for the road to be done and done well”, he said.
“In avoiding demolishing and compensation, you will create the very problem that you were seeking to solve if it is not done well”, he warns.
“It will not save any useful purpose. You just be celebrating the fact it is the first major interchange in Tamale. But yes, how much has it contributed to the reduction in congestion and traffic of motor pedestrian and vehicular traffic. That is very important, particular within the Central Business District of Tamale”, he stated.
Meanwhile, some residents within the Tamale Metropolis also complained about the contractor decision to redesign some of the dual carriage road, into single carriage road.
Construction of the Tamale interchange which commenced in 2019 was expected to complete in December 2021, but due to unintended delays and interferences, the deadline could not be met.
The Tamale Interchange is one of many projects being executed in Ghana as part of the $2 billion China Synohydro deal to enhance traffic flow in the region.
Story By: Alhassan Yakubu |www.diamondfmonline.com |Ghana
