The newly built Kwame Nkrumah Interchange is economically beneficial as it helps the public to save money, thereby indirectly putting money in the pockets of citizens, economist Edward Kareweh has said.

At the inauguration of the Interchange on Monday, President John Mahama said US$100 million is lost annually through congestion around that enclave.

With the new infrastructure fully functional, Mr Kareweh said individuals will be saving money “without government putting the monies directly in their pockets”, adding: “All those who passed the place initially and lost money will now be gaining money. It is, however, difficult to bring it to the understanding of everybody, but with the construction of the project, you have saved money.”

He added that the Interchange would facilitate faster movement of goods, creation of services and other businesses, which will be created around the hub.

“This adds to economic improvement. It is something which everyone must appreciate,” he stated.

He indicated that the public should now be able to channel that money into other ventures.

Mr Kareweh held the view that the infrastructure will help to create jobs by employing people to work on the facility and will still create jobs afterwards because professionals will be needed to maintain the facility.

Inaugurating the Interchange, Mr Mahama explained that thousands of jobs would be created through the establishment of the facility.

He said: “With the opening of this interchange, we believe that several thousand more jobs will be created as a result of the trade and economic activity that this project will facilitate. Time is a precious invaluable commodity and once spent, it cannot be recovered. Effective use of time, therefore, has a direct impact on our economy and must be calculated as a contribution to our GDP.

"With the opening of this interchange on which at peak hours is used by about 80,000 vehicles and daily it is estimated to be used by about 200,000 vehicles, reducing travelling time between the Ring Road Central and Feo Eyeo Intersection towards the North Industrial Area from two hours to just approximately five minutes, not only are we saving hundreds of millions of cedis in time wasted by the delay and the travel time, but we are also stimulating business and economic activity."