The Rating Member of the Native Authorities Committee and Member of Parliament for Bantama, Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, has made an enchantment to the federal government to prioritise the completion of the Accra-Kumasi Freeway dualisation venture within the 2025.
Talking through the funds debate in Parliament, the previous Minister for Roads and Highways described the freeway as Ghana’s most crucial financial hall, serving over 10 million Ghanaians and facilitating commerce between the southern and northern areas.
He famous that whereas previous interventions had considerably diminished journey time, neglect, congestion, and rising automobile numbers had reversed the progress made, with journey durations growing from 2.5 hours to five.5 hours.
“A 2001 research warned that until vital sections of this freeway had been dualised, our economic system would endure. Between 2002 and 2008, rehabilitation and dualisation efforts diminished journey time from 6–7 hours to simply 2.5 hours. Nevertheless, due to delays in finishing the venture, journey time has now ballooned again to five.5 hours, severely impacting commerce and productiveness,” he lamented.
Mr Asenso-Boakye supplied an in depth standing replace on the 240km freeway, saying 100km had been dualised, 46km is at present below development and 94km stays untouched
He cautioned that if pressing motion was not taken, the highway wouldn’t stand up to the following two wet seasons, resulting in even increased upkeep prices sooner or later.
He urged Parliament and the federal government to commit funding within the 2025 funds to make sure the freeway’s completion.
The Bantama MP additional emphasised that earlier investments had demonstrated the transformative energy of strategic highway infrastructure, citing profitable bypasses constructed below completely different administrations:
He talked about that the Nsawam, Kyebi, and Nkawkaw bypasses constructed below President Kufuor considerably eased congestion, the Tetteh Quarshie-Peduasei, and Kasoa dualisations boosted financial progress earlier than Ghana even found oil.
“Beneath President Akufo-Addo, 4 main bypasses—Osino, Anyinam, Enyiresi, and Konongo had been initiated, however these stay unfinished. The Accra-Takoradi Freeway should even be prioritised,” he stated.
Mr Asenso-Boakye additionally highlighted the financial significance of the Accra-Takoradi Freeway, which serves as a key industrial and tourism hall.
The highway connects Accra to Cape Coast and Elmina—residence to UNESCO World Heritage websites—and extends to Takoradi, a hub for the oil and fuel trade.
He acknowledged that the Akufo-Addo administration had begun the Kasoa-Winneba dualisation, with plans to increase it to Takoradi, however urged the federal government to speed up work to unlock the area’s full financial potential.
“This isn’t nearly lowering journey time it’s about enhancing commerce, tourism, and industrial progress. We can’t afford additional delays,” he careworn.
Past the Accra-Kumasi and Accra-Takoradi highways, Hon. Asenso-Boakye referred to as for the completion of 13 ongoing city interchanges to deal with extreme site visitors congestion in main cities. He warned that every day productiveness losses in Accra alone run into hundreds of thousands of cedis attributable to gridlock and excessive transport prices.
BY TIMES REPORTER
