Roads Minister Inusah Fuseini has said that works on the Accra-Tema motorway expansion will begin in March this year, by which time feasibility studies to establish the project’s viability will have been completed.

He explained that the feasibility studies are already underway and will give the project backers an understanding of the entire cost for the road, which is expected to be executed on a public-private partnership model.

“We will give the private partners a concession over a period of time to amortise whatever investment they do on the road. Until they know how much money will go into constructing the road, we are unable to give a concession because it will require some negotiation; and so they are there doing feasibility studies now

“If you go to the motorway right now, you will see some people doing surveys to determine the structural integrity of the road and the soil conditions underground. They have started work,” he told B&FT.

The Accra-Tema motorway is a 19km 2-lane dual-carriageway with cement-concrete surfacing, and 2m bituminous surface dressed shoulders. The motorway forms an integral part of the National Route 1(N1) starting from Aflao (in the Volta Region) and ending at Elubo (in the Western Region). It is also part of the Trans West African Highway (Abidjan-Lagos Corridor), linking the city of Accra, the Kotoka International Airport and Tema Port.

The weighted Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) volume recorded in 2008 on the road was 65,200 vehicles per day (vpd), which comprised 16% vehicles in the medium and heavy groups.

Out of the 65,200 vpd, about 20,000 vpd are local traffic commuting in and out of the abattoir residential enclave through an unapproved route to join the motorway. This is due to the fact that the approved route for these commuters experiences congestion at daily peak hours.

The condition of the road is generally fair, with deplorable sections in the outer lane of the Tema-Accra direction. The project design comprises: replacement of existing 150mm reinforced concrete slabs with 200mm ones; provision of 2-lane service roads at both sides of the motorway with Asphaltic Concrete surfacing; provision of 200 – 300mm crushed rock base on the service roads; provision of 200 – 300mm natural gravel sub-base on the service roads.

Mr. Inusah Fuseini added that Meridian Port Services (MPS) is the company behind the expansion project; “The Company has decided to source funding to ensure that construction of the motorway is added to the port expansion on the PPP”.

Meridian Port Services (MPS), one of the top container terminal operators in Africa and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) signed a deed for commencement of work on the US$1.5billion Tema Port expansion project in June last year.

MPS is a partnership between GPHA and the Joint Venture of APM Terminals and Bolloré Africa Logistics, as principal investors and leading container terminal operators in the world.

It is projected to be completed in four years and will make Ghana a maritime hub and the most efficient one-stop port services centre in the region and the rest of Africa.

The project, to be funded by MPS, also has a road component that will see the Accra-Tema motorway expanded into six lanes in each direction to facilitate easy access to the port.

Besides increasing the throughput capacity of Tema Port to adequately handle the country’s trade growth, the MPS-financed investment will generate massive added value to the country during and after the construction phase.

It is expected to create close to 5,000 jobs for skilled professionals as well as unskilled labour, besides taxes and social security contributions.