The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako Atta, has revealed that government will continue to pursue the construction of arterial roads in the Tema Metropolis to bring the needed connectivity for port efficiency.

The Minister said this when he commissioned the Community 3 roundabout reconstruction project which was built by Meridian Port Services in order to ease the flow of traffic to and from the Port of Tema in particular, and Accra and Tema as a whole.

“Today’s event represents the first phase of the Tema arterials project and it is in line with the government’s vision of improving the road network in the Tema Metropolis,” he said.

The roundabout built by China Harbour Engineering Company is an equivalent of a 7km single narrow road, and comprises of 45, 000 cubic meters of earth works. The surface concrete pavement is equivalent to 30,000 square meters whereas the drainage is 2km.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of Meridian Ports Services, Mohammed Samara, the road project which officially began in January 2019, was not only constructed to ease traffic flow into the new Terminal 3, but a necessity for the Tema populace who frequently commute that route.

“This was really necessary to be completed on time to synchronise it with the port but actually it was a needed project to the community more than the port itself.”

He revealed that the Meridian Port Services, in partnership with the Government of Ghana, is keen on developing an express way inside the Port of Tema.

The Director of Tema Port, Sandra Opoku, indicated that the road project, among others that the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and its partners are constructing in Tema and Takoradi, are part of GPHA’s vision to create access routes to and from the Ports of Ghana.

“I will like to also share with you that GPHA has always as part of its agenda to facilitate trade through its managerial strategy of ensuring the availability of access roads to and from the ports environs. This informed our decision to construct the double lane major roads from the Tema main harbour all the way to the motorway roundabout. We have also expanded and refurbished some arterial roads networks within the Port of Tema,” she disclosed.

The Deputy Minister of Transport and Member of Parliament for Tema East, Daniel Titus Glover, called for other private sector organizations to collaborate with Government in constructing the needed road infrastructure to improve upon lives in the society.

“We want to encourage other private sectors to follow the likes of MPS to see how best we can all together transform our country. That’s the vision of our president.”

Felix Nii Anang-La, Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive appealed to the Transport Ministry to impose a levy for all haulage vehicles that operate in and around the Tema port city in order to enable the Tema Metropolitan Assembly maintain such road infrastructures.