95% Complete Tamale Interchange in Ghana to Be Opened in Mid-March 2022
The under-construction Tamale Interchange in Tamale Metropolitan Area, Northern Region of Ghana, is reportedly 95% complete and expected to be officially opened to traffic in the middle of March this year.
This was announced by Amoako Atta, the Member of Parliament of the Atiwa West constituency and the Minister for Roads and Highways, during a working visit to the site and other construction works in Tamale in early January 2022.
Also Read: Contract for Ghana-Burkina Faso rail interconnection project to be awarded
“Works on the Interchange are 95 percent complete, and the contractor has assured me that the remaining 5 percent will be completed by the end of February. In the first two weeks of March, he will be doing the finishing works, and then anytime from mid-March the President will commission the interchange, the construction of which commenced in 2019.”
The project was initially expected to complete in December 2021, but due to unpremeditated delays and interferences, the deadline could not be met.
Expectations for the Tamale Interchange
According to Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu, the Northern Regional Minister, the commissioning of the Tamale Interchange, which is one of many projects that are being executed in the West African Country as part of the US$ 2bn Sinohydro Master Project Support Agreement (MPSA), would bring relief to commuters and ease the regular vehicular congestion within the central business area.
“There is no doubt that after the completion of this project, traffic flow would be steady here and the people will have the benefit of doing their normal businesses without the hindrances experienced before,” explained Mr. Shaibu.
He also commented on the number of ongoing and completed road projects in the region saying that they are an indication that the government is on course to fulfilling its promise to undertake massive road infrastructure in the country.
April 2019 Report on Tamale Interchange
Construction works of the Tamale Interchange in Ghana has commenced. The Project is part of phase one of the US $2bn Master Project Support Agreement (MPSA) between the government and the Sinohydro Corporation of China to construct a number of infrastructure projects including roads, bridges, housing facilities and extension of electricity to rural communities across the country.
The government has clarified that the MPSA is a barter arrangement in which it will be compelled to deliver to Sinohydro, Ghana’s manufactured aluminium products. The arrangement required the establishment of the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation, (GIADC) a statutory public corporation, to oversee the development and the utilization of the full value chain of the country’s bauxite resources.
Also Read:Construction of Outering Thika Highway exchange in Kenya begins
Sinohydro Projects
Speaking during the cutting sod ceremony, President Akufo-Addo noted that the arrangement was innovative, the first of its kind on the continent and that it won’t add to the country’s total debt stock.
Under the arrangement, each of the sixteen regions will benefit from hospital projects, the extension of electricity to rural communities, construction of court and residential buildings for the Judicial Service, landfill sites and industrial parks.
President Akufo-Addo explained that these projects were to be implemented on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis, and would be completed within thirty (30) calendar months after commencement. “Government is also ensuring that, in accordance with the local content law, a minimum of 30% of works will be undertaken by Ghanaian contractors, and supervised by Ghanaian consultants.
Thousands and thousands of jobs will be created for our youth, our country will be opened up for sustained growth and development, and, thereby, help put Ghana onto the path of progress and prosperity,” he added.
Under Phase 2 of the Sinohydro deal, which would come on stream after approval by Parliament, an additional 1,300 kilometres of roads, 3 interchanges, and 69 steel bridges will be constructed, at an estimated US $850m dollars. Source: Ghana Govt.
August 2021 Report on Tamale Interchange
The construction of Tamale Interchange in Tamale Metropolitan Area, Northern Region of Ghana, is close to completion according to Alhaji Abass Awolu, the Director of the Department of Urban Roads.
The latter is an agency under the Ministry of Roads and Highways (MRH) that is responsible for road construction and maintenance of urban roads in the West Africa country. Awolu made the revelation when he was briefing President Akufo-Addo during his visit to the project, as part of his two-day tour in the country’s Northern region.
The Director of the Department of Urban Roads said that the Tamale Interchange project, which entails the construction of a one-kilometer bridge, ramps, and five kilometers of ancillary road, is currently (80%) complete.
Also Read: Ghana begins construction of Tamale Interchange
A breakdown of the work done so far
Awolu explained that the Tamale interchange has a total of 19 spans, 13 of which have already been installed together with the ramps. The remaining spans, 6 of them, he said will be installed in the next 3 months while the ancillary works, mainly asphalting, street lighting, and road safety works, will be completed before the end of the year (2021).
To achieve this deadline, the Director of the Department of Urban Roads said that the contractor, M/S SinoHydro, has two teams working on the project, one team working from the Dakpema’s Palace section, and the other working from the Bolgatanga road section.
Other transport infrastructure projects being carried out in Tamale
Besides constructing the Tamale interchange, the government is undertaking other transport infrastructure projects in the Tamale Metropolitan Area, including the asphalting of some 40-kilometers of the road network.
The asphalting works started on March 2021, and so far 18 out of the 40-kilometers have been completed with the remaining 22 kilometers still underway.
100
