The minister for Roads and Highways, Mr. Francis Asenso Boakye, has inspected ongoing road projects in various parts of the Ashanti region, with a directive to the urban roads to demolish portions of a church, called Grace of God, for a newly constructed bridge to be operational in Bantama, a suburb of Kumasi.
The directive from Mr. Asenso-Boakye follows the completion of the Abrepo- Asubonteng Bridge over River Akos, which has been flooding beyond her banks during rainfall, thereby preventing people from crossing to the other part of the community.
He made these assertions during a working visit to the area recently. Accompanied by Technocrats from the Ashanti regional Urban Roads and Feeder Roads Departments, Asenso-Boakye began his monitoring from the Dakodwom- TUC stretch, where he inspected the progress of work on the Kumasi Western Bypass, which is being turned into a dual carriage.
From there, the minister and his entourage inspected works on the Wood Village stretch before moving to Oforikrom Municipality, where he inspected progress of work on the KNUST-Nsenie By-pass, which is being constructed by Rango Construction to cut off traffic
from National Highway 6 (N6) to the Accra-Kumasi Highway during peak hours.
They rushed to Asonomaso, Ntonso and Kenyase Aboaso, all in the Kwabre enclave of the Ashanti region, to ascertain the level of work on road projects currently underway in the said areas. Mr. Asenso-Boakye and his team later went to Kwadaso Municipality, where he monitored progress of work on the I.P.T. Extension.
The minister for Roads and Highways and his team of Technocrats galloped to Bantama, where the minister inspected the various road projects, including the Kokoso-Nyankyerenease stretch, which has been tarred. He then zoomed into Bantama proper, in the area of Bohyen and Abrepo, where he inspected works on significant roads and bridge
projects ongoing in the area.
The minister climaxed his working visit on the completed Atafoa Bridge, which has been a thorn in the flesh of the residents. Addressing the media on the Atafoa Bridge, Mr. Francis
Asenso-Boakye explained that the government is working hard so that the road network in Kumasi becomes accessible, in that motorists can use access roads to their destinations without using the major routes, adding that that is why they are constructing roads in areas such as Kenyase, Anotoa and the like.
He disclosed that a bridge has been constructed at Bohyen and this has opened up the Bohyen community, adding that the Kokoso road too has been done, courtesy Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and by the next two months it would be tarred.
Touching on the Atafoa Bridge, Mr. Asenso-Boakye described the transformation at Atafoa as tremendous, since the place was a no-go area when it rains, which saw the residents venting their spleen on him and by extension, the president. According to the Legislator
for Bantama, he started tackling the Atafoa challenge even before he became the Member of Parliament for Bantama, having engaged Engineers on the solution to the challenge.
“I approached then minister for Roads and Highways, Mr. Kwasi Amoako Atta, who deployed Engineers to the site for the commencement of the project, which has been completed today.” The Atafoa situation was worse because some misguided people were throwing refuse upstream of the river, blocking the culverts, which caused flooding of the area.
But upon the completion of the bridge, Mr. Asenso-Boakye told the media that, when it rains, the residents do not experience flooding anymore, and transportation has been enhanced so much so that, when it rains, it does not affect the movement of vehicles.
Sharing a horrific development about the challenge, the minister for Roads and Highways noted that last year the flooding killed six people, with one person surviving the rampaging water.
On the relevance of the Atafoa project, he indicated that the road is used by passengers
going to Sunyani, Offinso, Tamale and other destinations, lauding President Akufo-Addo and emphasising that the project is not only limited to the Ashanti region, but being replicated in other parts of Ghana. The resources the government has invested into road projects are unprecedented in the annals of Ghana.
