Former first Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings has described the ongoing €74-million three-tier interchange project at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle as a misplaced priority.

In her view, the money being spent on the interchange could have been used to deal with priorities which demand urgent attention, such as the completion of the stalled Nsawam-Kumasi road project.

“When you look at the Nkrumah Circle for example, I knew that when it’s the peak time it can get a little choked. But I also compare whatever we are doing there to the road between the Suhum area and other areas, and I ask myself: ‘Why would we not finish this, rather than come and start a new project altogether. As if we are not planning,” the former flagbearer-Aspirant of the National Democratic Party (NDP) told Nana Aba Anamoah in an exclusive interview aired on TV3 on Christmas Day.

Pressed further by Anamoah if she was implying that the 24-month project was not necessary, Mrs Rawlings replied: “It’s not the necessity. Is it urgent at this moment?” she asked.

“In the long run, it may be necessary, but at the time that it was started, something else could have been done with that same money,” she said.

Kwame Nkrumah Circle is a key intersection in the arterial road network in Accra. It carries about 84,000 vehicles a day and constitutes a key bottleneck in the major road network that links the suburban areas of Accra to the central business district.

The three-tier interchange project, funded with a loan from the Brazilian government and being executed by Queiroz Galvao, a Brazilian company, is about 80 percent complete.

The footbridge at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle was demolished during the works, as the road will be raised above ground level.

The Ring Road, of which the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Roundabout is part, was constructed in the 1960s and its capacity, according to Mr Abass Awolu, Director of Urban roads in an interview with the Daily Graphic last year, has been exceeded since the late 1990s.

The first level flyover of the new project will be between the Akasanoma Road, towards the Accra Newtown Junction on the Nsawam Road, as well as from the Newtown Junction on the Nsawam Road to the Kwame Nkrumah Avenue around PTC in the opposite direction.

The second level flyover is on the Ring Road between the Fanofa Bridge and Feo Oyo and connects the Ring Road Central to the Ring Road West.

The ground level has a roundabout at the existing circle.

The Ring Road flyover also lifts the Ring Road above the Odaw River and the rail line. This allows for pedestrian and public transport operations on the ground level.

It should improve pedestrian safety and reduce accident at in the area when completed.

The Contractor has engaged between 300 and 400 artisans, together with about five Brazilian engineers, on the project.

Queiroz Galvado has 60 years’ experience in the road construction sector and other businesses and is, therefore, confident of completing the works on time.