Construction works have begun on a 3-tier PTC Interchange project at the Kwame Nkrumah roundabout in Takoradi, the Western Region capital.
The $2-billion SinoHydro-funded project, being executed by Messrs SinoHydro Corporation Limited, is expected to be completed in 30 months.
According to a source, the first tier of the project ( 26.5metres) will be a roundabout to improve access to the Takoradi Market Circle through the Liberation Road while the second tier (80-metre span) would link the Agona Nkwanta – Cape Coast road with the third tier (288-metre span) expected to link the Sekondi bypass with the Axim road.
It said street lights, walkways and public transport facilities to improve the capacity of the intersection were some of the components of the project.
Cutting the sod on Tuesday, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia noted that major projects around the PTC roundabout included the Takoradi Market Circle development, which began this month and was expected to be completed in 2023 and that there was also the ongoing Takoradi port expansion.
These projects, according to him, would generate additional traffic to the PTC roundabout, thus the government decided to upgrade it into an interchange to improve capacity of the intersection and minimise congestion.
Dr Bawumia said the 3-tier interchange was part of master projects being introduced into the country with the support of the Chinese government.
The Vice President noted that Ghana’s road infrastructure and traffic, especially those in the Western Region, needed to be modernised, expanded and improved because of the oil industry.
The Vice President hinted that the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis would soon witness another interchange at the Paa Grant Roundabout, and under that project the Effia Nkwanta- Adiembra road and the Accra road in Takoradi would be dualised while bridges on the Butuah Lagoon would be expanded to accommodate increased traffic and reduce flooding and congestion at the Fijai bypass and Kojokrom corridors.
Roads and Highways Minister, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, described the PTC interchange project as historic in Sekondi-Takoradi and the entire Western Region, adding that “the traffic congestion during peak periods at the Kwame Nkrumah roundabout was unacceptable and should not be allowed to continue.”
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, said the interchange would be a relief to the commuter and that “there will be no loss of productive hours as a result traffic de-congestion.”
Sekondi- Takoradi, located 200km to the west of Accra, has a population of 450,000, has the second largest harbour in Ghana and is considered as the oil city of the country.
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, TAKORADI
